


Always The Fool With The Slowest Heart

by ProstheticLoVe



Series: I Wish I Never Met You [1]
Category: Veep (TV)
Genre: Dating, F/M, History, How They Met, One Night Stands, Pre-Series, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-01
Updated: 2018-11-19
Packaged: 2019-06-19 19:59:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 28,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15517464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProstheticLoVe/pseuds/ProstheticLoVe
Summary: Pre-series. Amy and Dan have always had history. Lots and lots of history. She has known him for even longer than she’s worked for Selina, but even back then she knew…she was going to end up the fool.Or how Amy and Dan’s first relationship started and subsequently ended.





	1. Thursday

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for checking this out! It's my first long story in awhile, but I really enjoy writing and watching and reading these characters. I hope you guys like it! It's just going to be five chapters. I'm trying to stick as closely to their characters as possible, so we'll see how it goes. Let me know what you think! 
> 
> Disclaimer: no one belongs to me.

Amy Brookheimer met Dan Egan on a Thursday night. It was at a D.C. young professionals meet and greet that was a shallow disguise for those who wanted to network the fuck out the country’s capital.

Amy figured that it was probably some sick fuck’s way of getting all the most desperate, young D.Cers into a room and watching them try to impress each other and make ‘D.C. friends.’   Which weren’t real friends as Amy had come to find out.

However, Amy being _Amy fucking Brookhemier_ already knew at least half of the people in the room.

And the other half…she hadn’t decided if she should really waste her time. She was still deciding on them.

While Amy grew up in the suburbs and had gotten the opportunity to intern, go to camps that were themed around social issues, and dedicate all after school activities to D.C. and politics, it still never really prepared her for what to expect when she actually moved to the city.

She was always straight-laced and smart, but she had been optimistic as she graduated college and headed to D.C.

She thought that D.C. would be different; that she’d be different.

But she’d come to find that a tiger could evolve, but they couldn’t change their strips.

And evolve she had.

A lot of the people she had done political things with in her youth had settled there.

But they weren’t as friendly as they used to be.

Now, they were the competition for the best jobs.

And Amy always thrived with competition.

But more importantly, she had become more jaded the longer she spent time in D.C.

Which ironically, hadn’t been as long as some people thought.

But that didn’t mean she didn’t know how to play the game.

She had come to figure out how to survive as a woman in politics.

So since she was without a long term plan after the next two weeks of her internship were up, she needed to come up with a solution.

Which is what lead her to her current situation.

While she hated sucking up, she had decided to go to the networking event anyway because…she didn’t have anything else to do, but also because she needed to figure out her next steps to get her to where she wanted. Even though she had some ideas, sometimes you had to explore your options before settling down.

But the thing that bothered her the most was that she had no one to go with.

Sophie was off with her new boyfriend at some monster truck rally—insert finger down throat here—and the few friends Amy did have in D.C. were going to hold her back from finding _the political pillar_ she would impress to nab the perfect job now that her internship was over.

They were also the competition at events like these.

Also, she and her boyfriend Eric had broken up two weeks ago and she was kinda depressed over it.

Well as depressed as she’d let herself get over a man.

For the event, she had decided to go with a tight, black dress that showed off her curvy figure. Her hair had been clipped up in a chignon and her makeup was done perfectly.

She did the superwoman pose to get pumped for networking because that was how she prepared for everything.

It made her feel strong, sexy, and ready to get the job done.

Also, she’d taken extra time looking herself over in the mirror and making note of how she was presenting herself to the public.

But of course, years later she wouldn’t remember any of that—except for maybe how she was dressed because every time she thought of that dress, it was difficult for her to stop thinking of Dan.

No, what she would remember was how suavely Dan come up beside her, looking devilishly handsome and she hated herself for having that image imprinted in her head.

Forever.

However, even before she knew Dan’s behavior…she _knew_ Dan’s behavior.

It wasn’t until years later that she actually realized how foolish she had been for letting someone like that approach her while she was trying to deduce the competition and figure out who she should and shouldn’t bother with. Also, when she was feeling vulnerable over the recent breakup with Issac—Erik. (She had forgotten most of her boyfriends’ names except for Dan’s because obviously.)

While she wished on many occasions—from the moment they met until now—that she had simply walked away from him, she knew they would’ve met some other way. On a campaign trail, at a D.C. restaurant, working for the same politician…one way or another Dan was destined to come into her life.

For better or for worse.

It was just too inevitable.

The early part of the night had been dull. She made note of who was in the room and who was missing. She talked to all of the people she knew, but she wasn’t really finding what she was looking for.

On either the cute guy to get over her boyfriend or the job spectrum.

So she took to doing the one thing she enjoyed at these events.

The free booze.

She had been over at the bar grabbing her third drink of the night when a tall, dark haired, handsome man came over to her. He wore a charming smile on his face and his eyes were directed right at her. Even from her position, she could make out some of the individual freckles decorating his face.

Unfortunately, she felt her heart beat speed up a bit and she took a sip of the drink to try to calm down.

She was already feeling a bit tipsy, so it must be why she was suddenly feeling very unlike herself.

She cleared her throat uncomfortably and tried to avoid his gaze all while trying—and probably failing—to look casual.

It wasn’t like her to get flustered over some good looking guy.

No matter how old she was—16 or 23—men didn’t make her swoon.

Besides, she wasn’t here to find her husband; she was here to network. And maybe to make out with some random guy, but definitely not here to find husband material.

Her goal for the night was to find her next big opportunity.

She needed to work on taking advantage of a chance to excel her career.

Her main priority was work.

And that was it.

But maybe if kissing a handsome man came into the equation, then who was she to stop it?

But all of those thoughts went rushing out of her head after the man did the following. What he did next alarmed her and made her wonder if he was insane because most men hesitated before touching her.

At least now that she wore a look of apathy most of the time, unless it was work related.

The handsome man gently touched her elbow and moved a little too close to her for comfort. She stiffened immediately since generally, strangers didn’t approach her the way he did. Taking a step back, she opened her mouth to tell him to go fuck himself, when he finally began to move his lips.

“Angel, where have you been all night?” he cooed and even though she had no idea who this man was, she could hear the fake note of happiness when he addressed her.

Now that he was right beside her—more than right beside her, basically hugging her body to his—she realized that she sorta knew him.

He used to occasionally work in the building she was in for her internship. She didn’t know him very well at all since she was on the second to top floor and she didn’t even know where he was. She just occasionally saw him leaving just as late as she was. She wasn’t sure what he did or who he was, but she always remembered wondering about him. Not a lot of people worked as hard or as late as Amy, so when she saw someone doing it, it tended to impress her.

But that didn’t negate all of the weirdness of him doing this.

They had never talked.

And they never made eye contact. 

Both of them were generally on their phones.

She didn’t even think that he’d even noticed her.

But none of that changed how she was feeling in this situation.

The charming smile he wore immediately screamed deception and her senses sprang to alertness. She didn’t know this man, regardless of the late night ‘run-ins’ and he was addressing her as if he did, which meant that he wanted something.

Even though her fuzzy, alcohol drenched brain she knew he was interested in something from her.

She recognized that look in his eyes, while one might see sincere happiness, she could tell there was an unsavory vibe about him.

Just by looking at him, she knew she should stay away, but at the same time—the darker part of her that she hid deep down—was intrigued by his forwardness, his casual tone, and the dark swirling emotions in his eyes.

But maybe she was being paranoid.

Maybe he didn’t want anything from her.

Maybe she was seeing something that wasn’t really there…

She didn’t know this man, after all.

Maybe she should give him the benefit of the doubt.

He raised his eyebrows at her and darted the pupils to the side as if to say something to her without verbally expressing it.

Subtly, Amy glanced over to where his eyes had darted and she spotted a brunette woman coming to a halt beside them.

 _And that’s what he wanted_ , she thought taking another sip of her drink and watched the woman stare at the man who had so audaciously put his hand on the small of Amy’s back. She had stiffened under his touch and she thought about shaking him off and walking away because who the fuck was he to touch her?

However, despite herself, she was intrigued to watch what would happen between these two strangers.

For some reason, she knew she was in for a good show.

It may end up being the most interesting thing to happen at this damn networking event that seemed to be more of an excuse to get drunk instead of actually meet people to advance her career.

The woman was tall and beautiful; the type of female that Amy generally hated because they looked down at her tiny frame.

Even if she wore heels, like she was now.

And looked stylish, just like what she was now.

“Dan Egan.” The brunette said with a tone of disdain. “You didn’t call me.” She added tartly.

Then her eyes seemed to land on Amy and a curled lip appeared.

The immediate disregard that Amy seemed to have for this woman appeared to have been reciprocated.

But at least Amy now knew what the man’s name was beside her. If she was going to be part of a spectacle, she might as well know whose she was being drawn into.

Dan Egan…it sounded familiar too, but she wasn’t sure where she’d heard it from.

He looked about her age, so maybe she’d just heard his name in passing?

“Sarah, this is my girlfriend—“

“Amy Brookehimer.” Amy said extending her hand and giving her a faux smile because for some reason she decided to play along.

Maybe it was boredom.

Maybe she was already that drunk.

Maybe it because she was surprised at the audacity of this man.

Maybe it was because she hated tall women who looked down on her 5’2 frame.

“Really.” Sarah drawled looking between them suspiciously.

“And how long have you been dating?” she added looking at the handsome stranger—Dan, apparently—inquiringly.

He stepped closer to Amy and moved his hand from the small of her back to wrap his arm around her in a possessive manner that she didn’t even allow her boyfriends to demonstrate.

“Three months.” He said with determination. “Amy, this is Sarah Lynn she’s—“

“She works for Andrew Doyle, I know.” Amy said reaching forward to shake her hand. “It’s a pleasure.” She added smiling stiffly.

Amy watched as the other woman looked her up and down and despite herself she felt her claws edging their way out.

There was a reason that Amy didn’t do anything in life laying down and just taking it. She did things to win. In fact, she’d do anything to come out on top, including acting her most devious, especially when another woman decided she already disliked her because of a man.

She always found those women to be particularly annoying because it was so petty and Amy hated time wasted on petty situations.

Even though Amy wasn’t in the political world to make friends, she never intentionally put someone down, especially a woman, unless it was necessary.

Amy only did something if it could help her reach her personal goals. So being mean to other woman just for the hell of it was never something she really understood.

Being mean to another woman because she was stupid or getting in the way of her personal goals…well Amy understood that.

So while Amy’s plan had been to network, now it appeared she was about to land on the shit-list of the U.S Senator from Maryland.

Great.

Now, she was never going to find a job once her internship ended.

But this woman—Sarah—had already decided she hated her so…Amy had to defend herself.

Sarah narrowed her eyes, “right. Did you know that your boyfriend and I went out previously? In fact, he told me he loved me.”

 “What a fun fact. I did know that. Here’s another fun fact: I also know that you siphoned any phallic shaped object to get your job in Senator Doyle’s office. Tell me, should Dan and I get tested or did everything come out all cleared up?” Amy asked gesturing around her mouth, “because I kinda see a little…” she trailed off and pointed to her upper lip while making a fake sympathetic face.

Sarah Lynn scowled at her, but couldn’t resist bringing her hand up to cover her mouth before scooting off, probably to the bathroom.

“Impressive.” Dan Egan said and then he reached out the hand that wasn’t touching her, “I’m Dan Egan.”

“I noticed.” Amy said taking another sip of her drink and looking across the crowd to ignore the outstretched hand in front of her. She noted that his other hand was still touching her and she took a step away to let him know she wasn’t playing along anymore.

“And you’re Amy Brookheimer?” he asked.

She could feel his eyes still trained on her.

“I am.” She said glancing over at him trying to act uninterested.

“Well, I thank you for getting me out of _that_ uncomfortable situation.” He said turning to the bar beside them and ordering himself a drink.

He glanced over at her and gestured as if to say _and what’ll you have?_

She smiled stiffly, “I already have a drink.”

“Well, let me get you another one.”

“Um—“

“To say thank you for getting me out of that shitty situation.” He said smiling charismatically at her.

She hesitated and then sighed, “I guess. This thing is as dull as my Freshman orientation at Penn.”

“Ahh, you went to Penn?” he asked taking the drink the bartender handed him.

Amy nodded and then ordered her own drink. She made a mental note that this was number four and she should stop.

Even though her internship was winding down, she still had to go.

“So why did you need help out of that shitty situation?” Amy asked curiously despite trying to act uninterested.

He smirked and shrugged casually, “girls can get clingy.”

She wrinkled her nose and took the drink the bartender handed her.

“Typical chauvinistic behavior.” She muttered.

“I see you got an A in English at Penn.” He said charmingly.

She glanced over at him and then quickly looked away. “Did you have a bad break up?”

“You could say that.”

“What happened?”

“She…I stopped calling her. She didn’t like that.”

Amy smirked and took a sip of the first drink, “what a gentleman.”

“Do you want to sit down?” he asked.

She looked at him through narrowed eyes. Her senses were telling her to stay away, but she was intrigued by him and he’d been the most interesting person she’d talked to tonight. Even if it was to escape another woman.

But maybe he could be useful.

Or maybe he could be fun to make out with.

Regardless, she was bored and she he seemed willing to entertain her.

“I guess.” She mumbled.

Dan smirked and led her to a table in the back corner.

“So what do you do, Amy?” he asked pulling a chair out for her.

She hesitated before sitting down. “Obviously, I’m looking for a job.”

“What do you do, though?” he asked.

“Political shit.” She said taking a sip of her drink.

Dan chuckled and followed suite, “aren’t we all?”

"I’d like to be a Chief Of Staff or a Campaign Manager…but I just graduated college and my internship is ending. I’d like to work with a female politician, but like I said, I haven’t had much luck.” She said taking another drink of her beverage and casting an eye around the room.

“I guess working with Doyle wouldn’t have been so bad.” She added quietly looking over at the woman, Sarah Lynn, who was talking fast to another woman and glancing over in their direction.

She noticed that Dan scooted a bit closer to her.

“Fuck that. Doyle is an asshole. And Sarah was…” he stopped himself and Amy had the feeling he was going to end his sentence with _wasn’t useful_.

“What do you do?” Amy asked curiously because if she was going to network she had to know what he did. How he could be useful to her.

“I work in the Secretary of State office.” He said proudly.

“Oh.”

“I just got the job there.” Dan added.

“Do you like it?”

He shrugged and looked around the room.

She smirked suddenly because she realized that he was doing exactly what she was: networking.

“How many people do you know in this room?” she asked.

Dan smiled smugly and took a sip of his drink. She watched him watch the floor of people.

“Probably a quarter. I should know half, but…” he shrugged and turned to look at her with a smug expression that made her want to wipe it off.

She nodded and gave him a charming smile, “I know half.”

“Why aren’t you talking to more people or are you really just trying to impress me?”

“I’ve talked to them before…and I already have my eye on something. Also I hate networking.”

“I thought you said you were looking for a job.”

“Maybe I was just trying to feel you out.”

Dan smirked and she watched his train his eyes on an older white gentleman she knew to be a Senator of Florida if she wasn’t incorrect.

“Kinda a shame that you’re sitting here with me when you could be out there getting a job.”

“Maybe I’m trying to figure out the situation. Maybe I’ve already talked with everyone in here. Maybe I’ve already found my next job.”

Dan turned to her and leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head. “You don’t like losing do you, Ms. Brookheimer.”

She stared at him for a moment, “networking really isn’t my thing. I mean…sucking up isn’t something that I’m good at.”

"Gotta pay the game, baby, to win and sucking up is imperative.”

She scoffed and rolled her eyes, “that’s fucking stupid.”

“It’s the truth.” He said shrugging.

She sighed and looked down at her drink feeling light headed. The drinks were finally catching up to her or maybe they had caught up with her and she was pretending they hadn’t.

“Yeah, I know. I’m here, _obviously_.” She said quieter and more serious than she thought.

“Do you want to introduce me to some people? We could form a partnership...I’ve seen you around you know. I know you’re just as smart as I am.” he said giving her a charming grin and leaning closer.

She let out a bark of laughter and shook her head, “And how do I know you’re even that intelligent? I think I’ll pass. I don’t know you. I can’t vouch for your character. All I know about you is that you can’t shake a stage four clinger.”

“She was hardly stage four. I’d say a three and a half.”

Amy narrowed her eyes at him and finished her first drink before moving to the next one. They lapsed into a silence as they continued to look around the room. While Amy obviously didn’t know him, she felt comfortable around him. Like she should know him. It unnerved her.

“Do you want to get out of here?” Dan asked suddenly and with such causality, she had to felt her cheeks brighten.

Amy felt her stomach drop and she wondered briefly if she’d heard him correctly. Was he really being that forward? Had he really asked her that? Did he expect her to say yes? She didn’t even really know the guy. But the deeper, darker part of her was interested in him. Even though for some reason she knew it would be stupid to admit it. Besides, she was finally a free agent again and Eric was old news. Maybe the very thing she needed was to move on to someone knew…someone who was unattached and not interested in a relationship.

Finally, Amy looked at him coquettishly, “I don’t even know you.”

“Does anyone really know each other?”

Amy rolled her eyes, “I just broke up with my boyfriend.”

Dan laughed, “I don’t know what you’re assuming, but I was just going to ask you to get a drink. Besides, we’ve seen each other around. I know we worked in the same building. I’ve never met anyone who leaves the office as late as I sometimes do. As for just breaking up with your boyfriend…maybe I’m just the medicine you need.”

Despite herself, Amy felt a blush coming on and wished she could what he was thinking. Was he just making fun of her? Was he really suggesting what she though he was? She looked down at her drink before announcing that she should probably go.

“You didn’t finish your drink.” He protested glancing down at her half consumed beverage that he’d gotten for her.

She moved to get up, but he quickly put a hand over hers to stop her.

“I know women like you, you know. I can see through you. I bet you’ve never taken a chance in your whole life.” Dan said his dark eyes trained on her.

She could tell he was a little drunk and she was too, but that didn’t make what she was thinking about doing was any easier.

She didn’t know him.

She shouldn’t be even thinking about going anywhere with him.

Even if he said they’d just go get drinks, she knew where it would lead them.

She wasn’t a one night stand kind of girl.

She liked relationships.

At least that’s what she told herself.

But then again her last few relationships hadn’t worked out the way she wanted and well…she was feeling much more horny than she had in weeks, maybe months. And honestly, Eric never really did it for her. She needed something more…

For some reason she was interested in breaking her rule, just for tonight.

Just for him.

She probably wouldn’t see him again.

He probably wouldn’t stay the night.

It wouldn’t lead anywhere so, why not?

Why not be a little daring?

Why not take a chance?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Amy responded finally to turn and look at him.

They made eye contact and Amy let her eyes flicker to his lips. She wondered briefly what it would be like to kiss him.

She banished that thought as quickly as it came.

“Do you really know half the people in here?”

“Alright.” She said standing up.

He looked at her curiously and she smiled down at him.

A truly dazzling smile.

Yeah, she was way drunker than she thought.

“Come on and show me what you got.” She said with a challenging look.

He grinned widely and finished his own drink before standing up.

“I didn’t think you’d go for it.”

“Well good thing for the both of us, I’m full of surprises.” She said with a grin.

Dan’s own smile widened even more and they grabbed their coats and made their way into the refreshing D.C. weather to hail a cab.

Amy had no idea what she was doing.

She didn’t know where they were going.

Dan could be a crazy person who got off on taking women back to his place and cutting their heads off while playing with their fucking organs.

She seemed to have been taken over by her alter ego.

The one who obviously knew what she were doing and liked to have one night stands with handsome men she met at a networking event.

The thing is and probably the only reason Amy had never done a one night stand was because she liked to plan these things out and she didn’t like to leave things hanging. Everything she did, she liked there was a beginning, middle, and end. Hence why relationships worked so well for her.

Even if a majority of her boyfriends were completely forgettable; they all had a beginning, middle, and end.

Amy smirked and glanced over at him, “We probably shouldn’t be doing this.”

“Probably not, it’s Thursday and politicians need the dirty work done on Fridays.” He said with a wink.

Amy laughed as a cab finally slowed down to take them, “that’s not what I meant.”

Dan laughed too as he followed her into the cab.

When the driver asked where they were going, they looked at each other with mirroring expressions of indecision.

“Um...” Amy said feeling like an idiot.

“Madame’s Organ.” Dan blurted out.

Amy looked at him in confusion because what the fuck type of name of a bar is that?

“It’s better than it sounds.” He said defending it.

Amy felt doubtful about that, but choose not to say anything.

The driveway over was awkward and Amy felt foolish for being so impetuous without thinking about the consequences and overthinking the situation.

She thought about everything she did first, but for some reason, with Dan she wanted to see how and where it went.

She wanted to sit back and enjoy the ride.

Somehow, she’d ended up with some random guy going to a random bar. He could be a serial or worse—a republican.

So she started to ask him questions because she needed to get a feel for this guy. And she also wanted to eliminate the awkwardness. They talked about menial things until they arrived at the bar.

From the outside, it looked average, but the inside was fun. Jazz music was in one part of the bar while there were stairs leading to the rough top deck. Dan went to get them drinks and Amy grabbed a spot on the couch, which overlooked the city.

Something in Amy changed as he sat down beside her with their drinks. Maybe it was getting out of that stuffy networking event or the beautiful backdrop of the city. Suddenly, she felt a lot freer and uninhibited.

Suddenly she felt like she wanted to know what he tasted like, how he kissed, how he’d run his hands through her hair…she suddenly wanted to feel him against her.

Years later, she’d blame it on the alcohol, but there was something else too.

It was the sparkle in Dan’s eye.

The way he was looking at her with curiosity.

How he laid his hand on her knee and his whole hand seemed to cover her flesh.

How he seemed to tower over her even sitting or the way he leaned in to hear her talking to catch each of her words.

The fact he didn’t know her and she could be whomever she wanted to be was also very enticing.

But more importantly, she liked the way he was making her feel, like it was just them on that roof talking about anything and everything.

She was enamored, but she blamed it on the alcohol because it was easier.

 “So who else do you know?” he asked with interest.

She laughed feeling a little more drunk than before, even though she hadn’t touched her–fifth—drink.

“I don’t want to talk about work.” She said with brazenness and then clumsily leaned over to kiss him.

She wasn’t even aware she was going to do it, but for some reason, it just seemed right.

Their lips touched a little more sloppily than Amy would’ve liked and their teeth knocked twice, but once they fell into a rhyme, Amy felt everything else fall away. There was no more noise, no Jazz music or the sounds of the city, it was just them sitting on the roof kissing each other tentatively and then a little more intensily.

It was probably the fastest Amy had been in and out of a place, since after they made out on the roof top bar for a bit, they decided to head back to her place.

She knew she wasn’t being herself, but the idea of being this wonton woman made her seem so much more far removed from herself.

She liked the mystery and how she could present herself as a seductress to Dan. And she liked of what she saw of Dan so far.

He was funny, smart, handsome, but most of all he was cunning. He seemed right on her wave length.

No matter how many years passed or the fights they had, the fact that Dan was on her wave length tended to be the one thing that was constant.

* * *

 

Amy was drunk.

Like really drunk.

Having that fifth drink wasn’t in her best interest.

(She had slowly consumed it between stolen kisses with Dan, but it was still stupid to do.)

The world was a little sharper, brighter than it usually was.

And still, years later she would blame their first rendezvous on how drunk they had been...but when she kissed Dan—even back then she could admit in the dark of the night, of course—that she liked him from the moment she saw him.

When she was younger, she liked to pretend she wasn’t as deceptive, dark, and devious as she really was, so the idea of Dan and how he showed his true colors…well it was a turn on.

When they got back to her apartment, Amy didn’t think about anything except how quickly to get Dan into her bed. She didn’t want to think about how hungover she’d be on one of her last days at her internship. She didn’t want to think about how this was so unlike her. She didn’t want to think about what would happen tomorrow with Dan.

She just wanted to be in the present moment.

She just wanted to feel and wanted a man to touch her.

They hadn’t stopped kissing since they’d crossed the threshold and every alarm in Amy’s head was going off.

She knew her apartment was a wreck and with the added trail of clothing, it wasn’t helping matters.

She had to ignore it though. She just had to get him toward the bedroom. That’s all she could concentrate on was the bedroom.

His hands were roaming over her body, up her dress, so they skimmed the rim of her underwear.

She felt her body shiver as he finally began to unzip her dress.

She pulled her mouth away from his and began to get his clothes off of him as quickly as she could. It was like if she stopped to slow down, then she’d start to think about how this was a terrible fucking idea. She was busy trying to undo every button on his fucking shirt that seemed to be taking longer than it should when she noticed a few times too many that her hands were shaking.

She considered stopping, but then he spoke breaking the sounds of rustled clothing and hurried kisses.

“You’re so soft…” Dan murmured. She felt his eyes on her and she resisted shivering at his tone of voice or the way he was touching her, she wasn’t sure.

Glancing up at him, she finally pushed his suit jacket off of him and then began to pull the button down shirt from his trousers.

“And boy, you’re getting hard.” She mused as she reached for his belt buckle to find his pants had tented.

She wanted to bring so levity back to the atmosphere in the room because…for some reason looking at him made her feel too…intimate…too out of control.

Dan gave her a wide, smug smile.

“What can I say…I’ve always wanted to be an overachiever.”

Rolling her eyes, she finished undressing him and then they moved into her bedroom. He walked her backward toward the bed and pushed her so she was sitting at the edge of it.

Looking up at him, Amy let out a little chuckle and shook her head to clear it of all the conflicting thoughts.

They were now both stripped from all of their clothes, except their underwear and her bra. He was looking down at her with such intensity, she wondered if he looked at all the girls like this. Because even though it may be her first one night, she highly doubted it was his.

He leaned down to capture her mouth in his and then she began to scoot back to make room for him on the bed. They giggled together in the dark of her room, both two loaded to realize what they were doing, but both acknowledging that it was awkward and laughing would break the thick silence.

Once the laughter had died down, Amy looked up at him with wide eyes. She wanted to say something, anything, but instead he leaned down and pressed a hard kiss to her lips.

She responded immediately and reached toward his boxer briefs to take them off. She stuck her hand in his pants and began to slowly pump up and down his shaft. He was already semi-hard, but for some reason, she wanted him to feel as good as she felt at the current moment.

She wanted him to feel the warmth in her belly and the throbbing that was making crave some sort of friction to relieve her of this building pressure.

She watched as his eyes fluttered closed and his breathing became heavy.

Suddenly, he pushed her hand away and got off the bed. He silently took his boxer briefs off and then moved back on the mattress so that his legs were on either side of her. Through hazy and horny eyes, he reached down and unhooked her bra with a little difficulty since she was laying down. Then he moved down her body—barely even touching her which drove her insane—and leaned down so his face was aligned with her nether regions.

“Cute underwear.” He said smirking at the little ice-cream cones on them.

She rolled her eyes and discarded her bra, which had been hanging loosely on her breasts on the other side of the bed. She watched with interest as he leaned down and began to take her underwear off with his teeth. She wanted to laugh at his obvious desire to show off, but she refrained because it was turning her on.

More than she’d admit.

Even years later.

Once she was completely naked and laying on the bed before him, he took a moment to stare at her, as if he were studying her.

It made her feel uncomfortable, but she refused to squirm because she somehow knew that it would make him smugly smile at her.

And she didn’t want to see that smug look.

For a moment, she thought he was going to start eating her out, but instead he moved in between her legs and came a little closer to her.

“Condom?” she almost whispered too afraid to break the silence.

He nodded, but didn’t make an effort to move.

His face was serious, his eyes dilated to all fuck; the pupils huge, but it was his body’s reaction that was really doing it for her.

Smirking slightly, since he seemed to be too distracted, Amy grabbed a spare pack she left in her bedside table.

Throwing it at him, she watched through hooded eyes as he put it on.

And as if they could reach each other’s mind, they suddenly reached for each other to touch their skin together. Their lips were on each other’s, hands were exploring one another’s bodies. She felt the tip of him slide against her wet fold and she let out a little sound that seemed to fill the room. She grabbed at his hair with her hands and pushed his head closer to hers so she could get even more lost in his kisses. She felt his hands running up and down her sides and finally she felt a finger slide within her.

 She arched into it because he was finally going to relieve some of the pressure she felt, but the quick pumping of his fingers was gone way too soon for her liking.

When she was about to yell out a ‘what the fuck’ because she needed him to continue touching her like that, she felt another fantastic sensation. With sweet, sweet finality, he pushed into her, the breathy moan caught in her throat as he began to pound deeper and deeper into her. Each time he thrust his hips, he found that almost hidden spot inside her that made her make sounds that were so incoherent she was pretty sure she wasn’t even making actual words, just noises.

Letting her more carnal nature take over, she nipped at his bottom lip and moved her hands down his back hoping that she left scratch marks because for some reason she wanted to leave a mark on him. Arching into him, she began to move her own hips matching each thrust for thrust, wanting to bring him closer and closer to the edge.

She heard his breathing become more ragged and she smirked against his lips. Pulling away from her, he buried his head in the crock of her neck and began to quicken his pace.

She finally noticed that the voices of telling her to not do what she was about to do had silenced.

She was finally in the moment and what a moment it was.

She heard Dan asking her to look at him, but she resisted and instead moved her hands between them to begin to rub her clit, so she could finally push herself over the edge.

“Amy, look at me.” Dan gasped bringing her back to her dark bedroom for a moment.

She opened her eyes on his second request and then he moved his hand that was above her head to knock her own hand on her clit out of the way.

She was about to protest at this move, when he pressed his calloused finger right at the very area that elicited a garbled sound that was half a scream and half his name and immediately, she was felt embarrassed at how undone she was becoming around this man. But the embarrassment was eliminated almost as fast as it came on because suddenly she began to feel that familiar building sensation inside of her.

All she could feel was Dan and all she knew in that moment as he began to hit that place inside her that made her toes curl was Dan.

And as she began to feel the start of her orgasm come on, she met his deep dark eyes and she saw self-satisfaction there, which for some reason, turned her on even more.

Even though it shouldn’t.

It was too bad that years later she would pretend her and Dan had never fucked the first time they met, especially because it was such a good one.

* * *

“So how often do you sleep with women you pick up at networking events?” Amy asked after they had finished and her breathing had finally leveled out.

She had taken note after he had rolled off of her that he was pretty out of breathe too.

Dan let out a bark of laughter and looked beside him at her. “I don’t kiss and tell.”

“I’m sure.” Amy said rolling her eyes.

There was a beat of silence as Amy considered getting up, although her legs felt like jelly, but she wasn’t sure what else to do.

“You know, I used to notice you when we left work.” Dan said quietly.

She glanced over at him curiously.

“You were always on your phone, yelling or texting. It was pretty fucking hot.” He said with a slight tone of surprise.

She smirked slightly, but chose not to say anything. She wasn’t really sure what to say to that and try as she might she couldn’t think of anything witty to say. When she finally did, she opened her mouth to respond, but found that Dan had fallen fast asleep beside her.

The next morning, he was gone and not a trace was left behind.

It was almost as if she dreamed the whole thing.


	2. June

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dan and Amy can't seem to stop running into each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for checking out this story! I hope you like chapter 2. It's not as long as my chapters usually are, but I thought it was a good place to stop.

Amy shouldn’t have been surprised when she woke up alone the morning after she slept with Dan Egan, but she was. 

She shouldn’t have been surprised when she ran into him at a coffee shop and he strategically tried to avoid talking to her, but she was.

She knew she shouldn’t be surprised when he began dating some Ohio Congresswomen’s daughter, but she was. 

She had thought…maybe there was a connection between them, but she also blamed that on her lack of one-night stand experience. Maybe she was just feeling residual effects from fucking him. 

After all, even though his foreplay was lacking for her, the sex was not…bad. 

It was kinda good. 

Maybe a little more than kinda. 

Maybe it was just good…perhaps she would consider it the best sex she had ever had because along with her lack of one-night stand experience, she also didn’t have a lot of experience period. 

Sure she’d had boyfriends…but sometimes when she was with them and they touched her, well her skin crawled. 

And the thought of doing anything more than kissing made her uncomfortable and generally, she just pushed through that discomfort to get it over with.

After all, she figured that eventually it would just get better.

Seldom had she come with another guy, but with Dan…well it showed her that she could let go and enjoy it.

With Dan, well it felt okay. 

Better than okay. 

And while her gut was telling her to stay away because he was danger in a Hugo Boss suit, the rest of her didn’t seem to care all of that much.

She had convinced herself after awhile that she only wanted him because the sex was okay—or good depending on the day she was playing it back in her mind— and she hadn’t gotten laid in quite some time. Honestly, she really needed to de-stress more because working in Washington   
was causing her to become more and more tense. 

She’d accidentally broken her flip phone the other day because she was squeezing it so tight while trying to get a word in during a meeting. 

So it just made sense that she’d want to have more sex with someone who actually could kiss and who was…well good looking—for lack of a better term—and knew how to use his dick.

And hands.

And tongue.

If only by using it in an okay manner.

Or really well enough to get her off.

Which had coincidentally been so difficult for her previous boyfriends.

However, even though she had developed a bit of a soft spot for him, that didn’t mean her feelings were reciprocated. 

Life didn’t always work out the way you plan it in your head as she’d come to learn. 

Amy had thought for a few weeks, maybe she’d run into him spontaneously at something and then…he’d fall madly in love with her.

Maybe he’d call her up and ask for her opinion on some bills that were currently being butchered on The Hill. 

Perhaps he was looking for a job and knew she could help.

There were a few more fantasies than she wished to admit to that involved running into Dan Egan in D.C.

While she wasn’t into Disney Princess Romances, she did want to be satisfied in knowing that she had gotten under Dan Egan’s skin and if they just ran into each other…maybe she’d finally get that comfort.

But alas, she never got that opportunity because what she wasn’t surprised about was when she’d heard through the grapevine that Dan had made his way to Ohio to work with Congresswomen Hayes. 

And now he was no longer in D.C. 

It had taken her a second to put the two-and-two together and the rumor of Dan dating an Ohio Congresswomen’s daughter and then getting a job with that Congresswomen. At first, she’d figured it was a coincidence, but then when she’d talked to a few major D.C. gossipers, she found that was kind of his M.O. 

Date the daughter of a Congresswoman/man and then land a position.

Very convenient.

Very manipulative.

Very Dan as she’d come to find out.

She now knew why he hadn’t stuck around. 

She couldn’t elevate him in D.C. at the current moment. 

She had nothing to offer him, but then why did he sleep with her in the first place?

It was a question that plagued her and then she tried to ignore because she’d never know. 

She could, however, stop living in anxious excitement waiting for him to just show up out of the blue.

She could start living knowing she’d never have to deal with Dan Egan again.

She could just forget about him and concentrate on her career.

And after a few months, she eventually stopped wondering about him or tried to think about him as little as possible. She only ever thought about him when she was at a social gathering or ran into Doyle or Sarah Lynn. He had become a quiet memory in her head and even if she’d liked him in the beginning, she wasn’t going to waste another second of pining over someone who obviously had no interest in her.

After all, if he did, he’d call.

It’s the age old adage that if a guy was into you, he’d make time to spend time with you—and well, Dan’s lack of reaching out was a definite way to show her that she wasn’t worth his time.

And thus she wouldn’t make him worth hers.

That is until she was at a happy hour event for her new boss Selina Meyer, and he was there conversing with other like-minded political heathens. 

She had never really understood romance movies that made such a point when the protagonist walked into a place and they met the love interest’s eyes across the crowded room and it’s like…time stops. She never really believed it until she walked into that room at that happy hour.

She had started working for Selina after she’d quit a job under a high-powered male senator. She had been in a meeting with him and Selina taking notes and she’d blurted something smart out, but was told by the male senator—whose name Amy couldn’t even be bothered to use because she still felt so offended—to stop talking. Selina wasn’t fond of that, so she stuck up for Amy and offered her a better paying job on the spot.

Of course, she couldn’t say no and she’d been with Selina ever since. 

And now here she was six months later standing in a room with a man she figured she wouldn’t see again—or at least for a long time.

As she stepped over the threshold and looked around at the large room of people trying to get loaded and network, she had stopped scanning as Dan’s eyes found hers.

And it really was like time had stopped.

It was like…all she could focus on was Dan and everyone around them was just background noise.

And then the spell was broken when he turned away and started talking to the gaggle of girls around him as he told a funny story, and she remembered why she had decided he was a shit in the first place.

He was a womanizer.

He was just interested in power.

He was a shit. 

He should be avoided. 

She walked across the room and found Selina easily entertaining a large group of Senators with a funny story. She winked at Amy as she walked over and Amy felt suddenly comforted, like she was supposed to be here. Instead of out of the loop and uncomfortable because she was only 24—newly turned 24—and she was still so fresh in D.C., she knew that she had the upper hand, even if Dan had thrown her off. She worked with Selina Meyer who had high-hopes of being president one day and Amy was going to make sure to ride that to the top. 

Amy laughed appropriately as the story ended and then she felt the presence of someone hovering behind her.

She glanced over her shoulder to find Dan chuckling as the story tapered off and the Senators began to disperse into a smaller group. She felt a hand on her arm and she tensed because she knew the inevitable was upon them.

She couldn’t avoid him any longer.

She was going to talk to Dan for the first time in a year.

And it was bullshit.

“Amy.” Dan said tugging at her arm to get her to face him.

She gave a great sigh and turned to face him, stealing herself from whatever shit he was going to throw at her.

“Long time no see.” He said a smirk settling on his lips.

She nodded slowly, “I think the last time I saw you was when you were trying to avoid me at the coffee shop, you know on Blagden Alley?”

His smirk didn’t falter, but instead widened. “And now here we are.”

She pursed her lips and stared at him trying to figure out what his angle is. 

“How’ve you been?” she asked tentatively because she wasn’t sure what else to say.

“Great, great. You know, Ohio.” He said giving a slightly shrug and sipping from his beer.

“Right.” She said quietly.

Amy searched for something to say as their conversation dropped into silence, but she wasn’t even sure if she wanted to continue talking to him.

The pain of waking up to an empty bed the next morning still stung a little. The knowledge that she was just a notch on his bedpost also still stung, but just a minuscule amount. You’d think she could let it go a year later, but…she had always been bad at forgiving people and had held onto grudges as tightly as she held onto her cell phone these days.

“What are you doing here?” she asked finally.

“Networking. What else?” he said smirking at her over the top of his beer.

She huffed and took a sip of her own beverage. “So Ohio hasn’t been well?”

“No, it has.” He said cryptically.

She nodded slowly, “then what are you doing back in D.C.?”

“Why are you so curious?”

“I figured I should warn the poor girl who you’ll be taking advantage of next, so you can get a better job. Tell me are you still dating Hayes’ daughter?”

Dan’s eyes sparkled with amusement, “Are you keeping tabs on me, Amy?”

“Hardly. I don’t even know you. Not really.”

“But you wanted to. Did you think about me after I left?” 

“Fuck no.” she snarled.

“Just keep telling yourself that, pumpkin.”

She rolled her eyes and decided that she wanted out of this conversation, so she finished her beverage and then left without saying another word. 

First, she headed to the bathroom because it would be the easiest way to avoid him and then she went to find her seat at the event. Thankfully, the event was so jam packed with speakers he didn’t have time to find her the rest of the night and once it was finally over, she got a cab as quickly as possible.

She figured that was the end of Dan Egan, for now at least. 

She tried to do some digging around to find out whether he was looking for a job or was just there for the summer…but her sources were relatively unhelpful and nothing was said about it in any of the blogs, so she figured that she was safe for now.

After all, no news was good news.

Except that wasn’t always the case. 

Because her luck was just that bad that she couldn’t shake the fucker.

It wasn’t that she necessarily disliked Dan, it was just that whenever she was around him, her senses were on high alert…and it may or may not have had to do something with their first encounter and the stupid mistake she made. But you know, Amy tended to go with her gut and her gut was telling her that Dan Egan was bad news.

Even though she’d only met him twice really…her opinion had been formed and couldn’t be waivered.

Unfortunately, because her luck had always been hapless Dan showed up at a young professionals networking event about a week later. 

And that was annoying.

But then he began showing up at all the events that seemed to take place and she attended.

Meetings, charity balls, donor lunches, events for The Political Party, networking dinners, and everything in between.

It was like she couldn’t escape him.

He was always there.

She’d walk into a room and he’d catch her eye or she’d be grabbing a drink and would see him chatting up some Senators.

Every time she did something out of the office, they ran into each other and every time, he did the exact same fucking thing and it was getting under her skin.

When she saw him, she wanted to take the nearest sharp object and harm someone, preferably him with it.

Or dump her drink on him.

It almost became a game to her every time she ran into him to figure out what new way she could hurt him.

Sharp objects.

Liquid on his suit.

A verbal lashing ripe with creative swear words.

A slap to the face.

She really needed to go out on more dates because her life was slowly being taken over by Dan Egan and she didn’t even realize it.

She, on average, saw him at least once a week and that small soft spot for him…well it may have evolved. 

It wasn’t that she was bothered being around him, she just didn’t want to deal with his devilishly smirking face whenever he saw her. 

She wasn’t dealing with that.

She was currently dealing with enough from her boss who had taken to having hissy fits when things didn’t go her way.

And the fact that he didn’t call her after their night together had nothing to do with the fact she wanted to punch that smug face.

While she could admit she still felt a slight sting when she saw him, that didn’t mean she liked him. 

It just meant that…she wanted to punch him because of how he smirked with a twinkle in his eye every time he saw her.

A majority of times she pretended he didn’t exist.

Sometimes, he wouldn’t even come say hello.

Several times, she ended up approaching him.

Other times, he came over to her with some political news that was too juicy to pass up.

Even fewer times, he would allow his hand to gently graze against her hand or the inside of her wrist and she resisted a shiver.

And even once, he whispered a dirty comment into her ear while they had been standing around a Senator listening to him discuss his latest   
policies about education in his state.

He’d smelled of whiskey and she tried not to shiver as his breath grazed against her skin.

But the fact remained the same, she knew that she had to stay away from him if each of her encounters with him showed her anything, it was that he was a flirt and he wasn’t afraid to use anyone to get what he wanted.

He was a careerist to the extreme and wouldn’t hesitate to go after what he wanted when it came to stepping up on the proverbial ladder.

And right now, she was working for a pretty powerful woman and she knew the only reason he was trying to get into her pants again was because he wanted to know some details about the Meyer party.

But maybe it went beyond even that.

Maybe she just didn’t like the way he seemed to zone in on her even though she really didn’t know him.

For all of their interactions, the one time they slept together, and the many ‘accidental’ encounters, she knew close to nothing about Dan Egan.

But she did know one thing about how she felt about him. 

She wasn’t sure what it was, but every time she saw him she really wanted to hit him.

That was it.

That was all she’d allow it to be because she had more important things to do than deal with Dan Egan.

It wasn’t until a Friday night at a bar with her sister did she finally have enough of having to deal with him everywhere she went.

It was the first time she’d seen him at a non D.C. event and just out having a good time.

Of course, they’d ended up at the same bar because that’s just what happened in her life.

Amy and Sophie were sitting at the counter having a few cocktails when she felt a presence at her arm.

She glanced beside her ready to tell whomever had sidled up to her to fuck off, when she saw Dan and his stupid smirk.

“What the fuck.” Amy muttered under her breath as he looked at her smugly.

“Hey Ames.” He said.

“Don’t call me that.” She replied taking a sip of her martini and glancing at her sister who was leaning over with intrigue.

“I figure since we’ve been running into each other so much, I might as well start a nickname for you.” He said ignoring her request.

She rolled her eyes and let out a huff, “You’re not creative. And my friends only get to call me that.”

“And we aren’t friends?” Dan asked giving her a sulky look.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded to know with a glare.

“I heard you’d be here.” 

“You know, I was wondering if you were stalking me and now you’ve basically confirmed it.”

“I wouldn’t say stalking…it lacks finesse. I’d say I am intrigued by you.”

“And here all I thought that intrigued you was your reflection.”

Dan chuckled and leaned in, “We should probably stop meeting like this. People might think something is going on.”

“Well there isn’t anything going on. There will never be anything going on.”

“That’s not—“

“Excuse me, my name is Sophie.” Sophie said interrupting their conversation.

Amy rolled her eyes dramatically as her sister reached a hand across her to shake Dan’s limb. However, he didn’t reciprocate the gesture and instead, stared at her outstretched hand with an annoyed expression. 

Amy waited for the inevitable flirting to take place as she sat in the middle. Sucking down the remaining martini that was in her glass, she continued to wait for Dan to say something, but when she looked up, she found him staring down at her.

“This is my sister.” Amy said finally, with a note of regret in her tone.

“Sister…huh.” Dan mumbled as Sophie finally lowered her hand and looked at him with frustration.

Amy must’ve had a surprised look constricted on her features because Dan leaned down and spoke directly in her ear.

“Do you want to grab a table in the corner?” 

Amy let out a loud laugh and stared at him incredulously. “With you?" She paused because she wasn't sure what to say next. While she had secretly been harboring a desire for him to actually ask her something like this...she couldn't shake the facts. 

"I’m here with my sister. I’m grabbing drinks. It’s Friday. The last thing on the planet that I want to do is talk to you about anything.”   
She pushed him out of the way as she stood up and gestured to Sophie who whined in response, but joined her. 

Amy threw a 20 on the counter and watched as the bartender swooped in to grab it before turning to Dan who looked more irritated than she figured he’d look.

“I’m not sure what your game is…showing up at the same events I’m at and now the same bar, but whatever it is, I’ll find out what you’re after.” Amy promised before grabbing her sister by the arm. 

Before she could get very far though, Dan stepped in front of her to stop her.

“Maybe all that I’m after is some decent conversation with a beautiful woman.”

Amy rolled her eyes so dramatically she wondered if her face was going to get stuck in permanent disgust. “Now I know how you’ve seduced all those poor women to give you a job.”

“And what would you say my seduction technique was for you?” Dan paused and took a step closer to lower his voice, “I know you’re interested, just like you were that night.”

Amy curled her lip in anger it was the first time he'd directly mentioned that night. Before it had only been teasing remarks on how much she wanted him or had thought about him. Finally she said, “too much alcohol and a meager hope that D.C. guys aren’t all assholes is how you go me then, but now, I know what type of fucking Hugo Boss wearing careerist-shits to avoid. I was interested in you for one night; I won’t make that mistake again. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get as far away from you as possible. My skin is started to crawl.” And with that, Amy dragged herself and her sister out of the bar and toward another one a few doors down.

While they weren’t going far and Amy figured she’d probably end up running into Dan again because her luck was awful, at least she was leaving his vicinity. 

She tried to ignore the way her sister looked at Dan and the way he was looking at Amy, but the last glance of disappointment couldn’t resist piquing her interest. She told herself it didn’t mean anything and that the only reason he was playing nice was because there were rumors of Selina running for president. 

She told herself she was doing the right thing, but she kinda felt…well she couldn’t help but wonder if Dan maybe had changed his mind.

Maybe he actually was as intrigued by her as she was by him.

However, if there was one thing she’d learned in her time in D.C. was that if anyone showed the slightest bit of interest in you, it was probably to get something.

And Dan was no different. 

Hence why dating D.C. guys were officially off her list of options in her love life.

Just like one night stands.

And just like Dan Egan.


	3. July

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amy comes to some tough realizations and goes against her better judgment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for checking out this story! Whether you've commented or reviewed, I'm so happy you guys are enjoying it! It's been a lot of fun to get into the head's of these characters as well as a great challenge. 
> 
> If you live in America, Happy Labor Day, if you don't Happy Monday! 
> 
> Now on to the chapter!

On the Fifth of July, Amy received a bouquet of flowers without a note.

She came in the day after the fourth—which was always huge in D.C., so she had a major hangover—to find the large clear glass vase stuffed to the brim with royal purple irises and no note.

It was weird and she wasn’t sure how to respond.

More importantly, she wasn’t sure if she even _should_ respond.

The night before had been a blur of running into fellow staffers, politicians, fundraisers, and lobbyists while she was at some huge July 4th celebration that turned rambunctious pretty quickly.

For all she knew, she could’ve flirted it up with the right person.

Or it could’ve been the two male journalists who tried to weasel some information out of her about Selina running for president.

It seemed to be the only reason people were talking to her these days.

One of the _perks_ of working for Selina was being bombarded by seedy D.C. bastards who circled her like vultures waiting for her to let her guard down.

Her first thought was that it was addressed to her by mistake, but after calling the florist and talking to him—read getting into an argument—she decided that maybe they were for her after all.

Her second thought was about when was the last time she received flowers and then her third thought was about who sent them. Obviously, it had to be Dan schmoozing her after trying to get her to have a drink with him the Friday before when she had been out with her sister.

However, she had also heard at the event on the Fourth of July night that he was currently seeing Nicola Bitch-face Mortlock.

Not that she was asking around or anything.

Someone just happened to mention it.

She just happened to overhear it.

So obviously, Dan was out…which left close to know one.

Except information-grubbing-fuckers who wanted to know more details about Selina, the presidency, and politics in general. But Amy didn’t want to think that someone would stoop so low to send her flowers for information.

It put her dating life under too close of an observation in her opinion.

And it made her uncomfortable with how she realized how little she put herself on the market.

Or how little she really wanted to these days when it felt like all people wanted from her was to dish about Selina.

However, even though she had better things to think about like preparing for Selina to run for president, she had come to a few conclusions about the flowers.

Exhibit A: They sent them to her work place, thus whomever it was didn’t know where she lived.

Exhibit B: They didn’t include a card, which meant they didn’t want to take credit for the bouquet.

Exhibit C: Somehow, they knew her favorite flowers were purple irises because unlike most flower meanings, these flowers signified wisdom instead of focusing on superficial bullshit like beauty.

Obviously, this person knew her…

She let it drop after a few days because she had more important thoughts to occupy her mind. However, every time she’d step into her office that week, she’d stopped to think about the flowers and the person who gifted them to her. Eventually, they shriveled up and died and the feeling of curiosity disintegrated with it.

For a few days, she was interested to see what would happen next. She allowed herself to think about secret admirers and other presents left on her desk, but just for a few seconds before getting back to work.

For a brief time, she let herself imagine if it _was_ Dan who had secretly been pining for her.

But after nothing happened and whenever she saw him he said nothing, she stopped thinking about it, until some friends of hers invited her to a party, something she never really took the time to do.

What was the point of standing around and talking to people who didn’t really interest her?

Parties had never really been her scene.

She either got into a political argument with someone or she ended up in a corner with some guy trying to feel her up.

While she enjoyed letting loose with a few drinks every now and again, she wasn’t the partying type.

Not even in college.

So when they invited her, she figured she’d have a few drinks, get her mind off work, and enjoy having a social life.

Or what was the little social life she actually had, which was almost as miniscule as her dating life.

Really what had happened was someone in the office mentioned how she was the first one there and the last one to leave every night consistently—well, except for Gary.

And Amy flipped out, so she had to show everyone that she was fucking social and she could be fun and they could fucking stop talking about her as if she were some shrill careerist—which may have been something she overheard someone saying about her.

Even though she obviously didn’t care about what anyone thought, some part of her wanted to prove it to herself that she wasn’t going to die alone friendless, partnerless, and familyless because she was more interested in her career instead of forming meaningful relationships with people.

Arriving at the party had been weird, her friends ditched her upon entering the house and she looked around trying to get into the mood to chat about things that weren’t work-related and flirt.

She went directly to the kitchen to find alcohol before she said a word to anyone. If she was going to loosen up, then she’d need some liquid courage.

She shouldn’t have been surprised when she entered the kitchen to find a few D.C. people, but it was one in particular that stood out to her.

And they locked eyes, like they did every time one of them entered a room and the other one was already in there.

She’d gotten used to the fact Dan was just _always_ fucking around now, but that didn’t mean she liked it.

She sighed heavily and gave him a tired and uncomfortable smile.

“Should’ve known my resident stalker would be here.” She muttered reaching a hand forward to grab a red solo cup and move forward toward the keg.

(Honestly, they were in their mid-20’s shouldn’t they stop drinking shitty beer from a keg?)

But she was stopped by him and a tall, brunette woman beside him that Amy unfortunately knew.

“Amy Brookheimer, do you know Nicola Mortlock?”

She tried to ignore the wide, charming grin on his face and instead focus on the leggy brunette.

She looked at Mortlock whom she had disliked since she’d met her a year earlier at a work event. She had rolled her eyes at Mortlock who had told some charming story about children or old people or some shit. Amy didn’t bother to remember or care, but she’d disliked her because after the story, she’d turned to Amy who had been standing there because she knew Mortlock was well connected and she’d been looking for a job at the time and commented on how the only way you can get a job in D.C. is by helping others and doing favors.

Then she winked.

And it left Amy feeling weirdly about her.

Was she genuine or was she like 75 percent of D.C.—ready to chew you up and spit you out?

And Amy couldn’t stand that self-righteous bullshit nor did she ever do anything out of the goodness of her heart without something in it for her—not that she’d admit to that self-serving behavior.

At least not at this point in her life.

While she could stand a lot, playing the public with honest woe-is-me-bullshit always got under her skin and she wasn’t entirely sure as to why.

Just like she could never understand why Nicola’s wishy-washy behavior bothered her.

It shouldn’t because who cared, but it did.

“Yes, we’ve met.” Amy said shortly plastering on a wide smile and grinning at them both.

She silently thanked her lucky stars on settling on the outfit she was wearing. With the desire to look and feel like she was having fun, she donned a red halter top, with a pair of dark wash jeans and wedges. While she felt a little over dressed, she was focused on looking good, which is why she let her hair dry in waves and put on more make up than she usually wore to make her blue eyes pop.

When her eyes glanced back at Dan, she noticed how he was checking her out and she felt a flush of pleasure that she’d caught his eye.

Even if she knew it was wrong, since Mortlock was right beside them.

“How are you?” Mortlock asked sincerely.

“Great. I’m working for Selina Meyer.”

“Ah yes, sorry to hear about _that_.”

Amy frowned, “why do you say sorry? I enjoy working with Selina.”

Mortlock teetered and covered her mouth. “I’ve heard she’s a nightmare to work with.” She said conspiratorially.

Amy resisted rolling her eyes, “she’s fine. It was nice seeing you both. I just need to grab a drink.”

She moved around them and continued her way to the keg.

After filling her beer, she snuck out the sliding glass doors and settled against the railing on the porch. The outside area was filled with smoke as the smokers sat on the bench behind her. She could hear them chatting, but there was nothing she cared to listen in on.  
It was a party right outside the city limits and most of these people weren’t her usual social crowd.

Meaning they weren’t really D.C.

Which is why it was weird that Dan was there.

She was wondering why she had even decided to go as she settled against the railing and become surrounded by the cloud of smoke because…well, this wasn’t her scene and she had already known that before running into Dan.

And well maybe she was a bit lonely and felt uncomfortable in her attempt to have fun an be careless and sexy.

It wasn’t her.

And it wouldn’t ever really be her.

She’d known that for some time, but still…

Her friends had ditched her on arrival and running into Dan with some woman was not on her preferred list of ways to spend her night.

Taking a large gulp of her beverage, she decided that maybe it didn’t matter if she was fun or not. Maybe the only person you could really relay on was yourself. Maybe she should stop worrying about other people and just focus on—

“Nice night.”

Amy sighed and slowly turned to face Dan who was standing beside her with a curious look on his face.

“Shouldn’t you be with your date?”

“Jealous?”

“Not even a tiny bit.”

He paused and she took the opportunity to take a sip from her drink.

“You look nice.” He said finally.

She frowned, “Shouldn’t you be _saying_ that to your date?

He rolled his eyes and took a step closer to her. She moved back and leaned against the railing wanting to concentrate on something that wasn’t him. She pushed back into the wood and let it dig into her lower back to give her something to ground herself.

“How’ve you been?”

“Fine.”

“Good.”

“Yep.”

“Did you like the flowers I sent?” he asked without missing a beat.

She whipped her head to look at him and frowned, “that was you?”

“Yep.”

She opened her mouth and then closed it and then repeated the action.

He chuckled and leaned against the railing. He watched her closely as he folded his arms across his chest.

“Irises, right?”

“Should I worry about you turning into Edward Cullen?”

Dan laughed, “Did you just make a Twilight reference?

“Shut the fuck up, Dan. I’m processing and trying to figure out why you’d buy me flowers. You barely even know me.”

“But I want to get to know you.” He said easily.

She furrowed her brow and stared at him hard. Less than 10 minutes ago, he was introducing her to another woman he was here with and now he was making a declaration that he didn’t full understand or—in her opinion—stand behind.

She felt like he was just saying this to get a rise out of her.

In short, she didn’t believe him.

She couldn’t decide—now that the flowers were added to the mix—what he was playing at?

He didn’t really know her.

Why was he so interested?

She worked for Selina, that had to be why.

She had come across her fair share of D.C. assholes who were interested in her only because of her position in Selina’s office.

She’d found that out the hard way.

Several times.

Dan was just a cockroach that refused to go away.

Just like the rest of them.

And who happened to make his way into her bed because she was feeling brazen one night.

And maybe the fact she found him attractive and interestingly kinda sexy made him a little more irresistible than those other D.C. douchebags.

He was the only one who actually piqued her interest and she kinda really hated that because he was the worst.

At least most people in D.C. had a heart, but people like Dan…they did not and that made them capable of anything.

He was a womanizer and she needed to remember that.

He was just like the rest of those D.C.ers.

No matter if she found her interest growing every time she ran into him.

It was like she was digging a hole of sorrow that would haunt her for years to come by scratching the surface of his personality and overall being whenever she saw him.

“You came here with another woman. I’m not into threesomes.” Amy said bluntly and she heard someone in the cloud of smoke they were surrounded in chuckle.

She wondered why they were having this conversation here instead of somewhere that they could have some privacy.

“Let’s go to dinner.” He said throwing caution to the wind.

She stared at him, “I just told you. I’m not dating someone who is already in a relationship with someone else.”

“I’ll dump her for you.” He said quickly, too quickly.

She frowned, “you’d dump another woman just so I’ll go out with you?”

“If that’s what it takes.” He said looking at her with calculating eyes.

She bit her lip and considered it for a moment, but just a moment before her common sense kicked in.

“No fucking way. I can’t believe…fuck off, Dan. Don’t send me flowers again. It’s really fucking…just fuck off.” She said and then with the desire to get the fuck out of there, she chugged her beer, tossed the cup in the overflowing trash near the door, and descended the stairs of the house.  
She didn’t stop to say goodbye to her friends because she didn’t care.

She wasn’t dealing with anyone else’s shit anymore.

She didn’t look back at the porch and she definitely didn’t look at Dan as she walked toward the front lawn of the house and began to call a taxi to come get her. She decided with finality that she wasn’t the having fun type and the next time she ran into Dan she was going to accidentally-on-purpose dump her drink on him for his stupid suggestion.

She almost felt bad for Nicola Mortlock.

But then she remembered that bitch-face she made.

* * *

 

A week after the party that Amy realized she would never be considered fun and more importantly, learned to let it go, she realized what Mortlock was talking about when she mentioned Selina being a nightmare to work for.

While she’d been experiencing hissy fits and minor melt downs for awhile, it was nothing in comparison to what happened when Mike broke some unfortunate and disheartening news.

Stuart Hughes was running for office.

For president, specifically.

Same as Selina.

He was going to be Selina’s biggest competition.

And that, set her off.

Amy had never seen a grown woman trash her own office before but…there it was.

In the flesh.

Selina throwing papers around as Gary chased after her and tried to get her to calm down.

And it was scary and intense and the start of the downfall of bad luck for them.

But the end of the week, Amy was ready to go home and slit her wrist in the bathtub.

She was supposed to have drink plans with her sister, but she cancelled them to head to a bar by herself because the last thing she wanted was to be around people and fake conversation.

Which is why when the just-out-of-his-mother’s-womb journalist sat beside her and ordered her a drink, she was ready for a good lashing.  
She’d seen him before and for the life of her she couldn’t remember his name, but she knew Mike used to make fun of him because he looked so young and wrote for some online blog that was up and coming. What she did remember about him was that he wrote scathing remarks about Selina.

“What’s a pretty girl—“ he began after telling the bartender to order another of whatever she was having.

Amy turned to him in rage and glared, “are you fucking kidding me? Did you Twitter-stalk a staffer of Selina Meyer’s so you could ask me about whatever the fuck story you want to wow people with for five seconds? Get this through your alcohol-soaked brain, you journalist blood-sucker, I have no comment. I have nothing to say about the Hughes running for president story nor the fact that Selina mentioned a desire for a position in higher office. I don’t even have anything to say about the fact that 1,000 people in her district were laid off because of—“

“Woaw, lady! I just thought you were hot. I happen to be a journalist and wanted to take you out. I didn’t know you were a staffer for Meyer The Liar. Is that so wrong to be interested in a hot blonde?” the journalist said interrupting her.

Amy steamed as he caressed a hand down her arm.

“I mean, if you want to give me a story as we fuck—“

“Not fucking interested.” Amy snapped and then downed the drink the bartender just put in front of her before getting up to leave making sure to leave him with the tab.

But the journalist was quicker than she gave him credit for.

“I was talking to you.” He said squeezing her arm to get her to stop walking away from him.

“And I’m taking advantage of my freedom and walking the fuck away.” She said shaking him off.

He scowled, “Okay, okay, fine! You know, I’d expect you to be used to this, Brookheimer. I mean you are one of Selina’s lap dogs. Not that you are ugly, but come one, this is D.C.”

She glared at him, tempted to reach up and hit him, but the fact he was a journalist and they were in a public place stopped her.

“So you do know me then.” She stated against her better judgment.

“Up and coming D.C. star Amy Brookheimer…with a mouth like a sailor and an ass like— “

“I wouldn’t finish that sentence.” She said in a shrill tone.

He smirked at her, “I’d be weary of anyone showing interest in your Brookheimer, you’re pretty hot news right now…the higher Selina climbs, the more in the spotlight you’ll be. You’d think by now you’d know how to play the game. People are only interested when you have something to  
offer them. Even thought you’re blonde, I figured you’d know what was up.”

Amy opened her mouth to respond, but he turned away and moved back to the bar before she could.

For a moment, she stood there wondering what to do next and then she moved toward the front doors of the bar and out of the establishment.

Leaning against the wall outside, she took a moment to collect herself. She felt violated, both mentally and physically.

While she had her own internal thoughts about getting fucked by D.C., this was the first time that she’d heard them expressed outside of her mind.

And she didn’t like it.

There was a twisting sensation in her stomach and she felt…she felt like she’s just heard Santa Claus was a fucking lie.

She felt like she’d found out that her favorite Politian secretly had a harem of hookers and would do cocaine before giving a powerful speech.

She felt small and alone.

She took a deep breath in and then straightened her posture before walking down the street and hailing a cab.

It was the first time since she’d graduated college that she began to second guess what she was doing.

After a shit show week with Selina and then that journalist…it wasn’t just Dan that she had to worry about using her, was it? It was everyone. Dan was just more…in your face about it. He was just another pawn in the game of politics.

Maybe she should learn to play the game after all.

Maybe having fun wasn’t about going to parties and sleeping with someone you shouldn’t.

Maybe having fun, in D.C. at least, was getting rid of your scruples and throwing your morals out the window.

Maybe it was all about playing the game.

When she got home, she looked up the Ohio Congresswoman that Dan was currently working for to find his contact information.  
It was ironic that she didn’t have it with the amount of times they ran into each other.

She wrote out one sentence in the email and stared at it stonily.

**_If you want to take me to dinner, then dump Mortlock._ **

If she was going to learn to play the game, she was going to have some fun, but it needed to be on her terms.

She was a control freak after all and those things never change.

As she hovered over the ‘send’ button though, she sat back against the headboard of her bed and thought long and hard about what she was doing.

Was she really compromising her morals because of what some douchebag reporter said to her?

He hadn’t said anything new to her; nothing she hadn’t already known.

What about this time sent her over the edge?

Why was this time some man hit on her for something any different than any other time?

Since she grew boobs and turned 14, men had been sexually attracted to her.

This she knew.

Since she moved to D.C., she had been conned, yelled at, charmed, and schmoozed for information about something or to network or to sell her soul for some job.

She knew all this.

D.C. tended to chew you up and spit you out and it was up to you to keep on going.

The journalist-douche-fucker just pointed it out.

Just like how Dan had asked her out even though he’d been at the party with another woman.

They were just being straightforward about what they wanted.

She was letting all of this effect her and reaching out to Dan…well it would just be her giving in to something that she knew wouldn’t pan out.

She was reacting instead of thinking logically.

Why should she give in when there were more important things to focus on?

D.C. was full of shitty people who were ready to pounce at the first sign of weakness.

And Amy wasn’t weak.

She was strong.

And she was ready.

With a quick decision, Amy reached forward and deleted the email. She wasn’t going to be walked over.

She wasn’t going to let things happen to her.

She was going to be the best and that meant covering weaknesses and growing iron-thick skin.

And becoming loyal to people who honored loyalty.

* * *

 

Amy’s decision to be stronger, better, and more suspicious—read paranoid—was going well until she returned to work on Monday to find that Selina’s mood had dampened even more.

Apparently, there was a crisis with Andrew that seemed to soak up her weekend and Amy was hearing—being yelled— the tail end of the story when it was announced there was a government shut down because the current POTUS couldn’t come to an agreement with the Affordable Healthcare Act.

“Now everyone is fucking furloughed! Gary! Fucking Gary get in here! Bring me a fucking croissant while you’re at it. I need it to deal with this shitstorm.” Selina yelled as Amy packed her items up, sighed the piece of paper that was being waved in her face, and prepared to go home and go back to bed.

“Amy, Amy, I know you don’t want to go, but you have to. You know when I’m fucking presi—Jesus, Gary, you know I hate those croissants. Amy,

I know you can’t work while on furlough, but if you want to prepare a few reports for the campaign, that’s totally fine. It would be incredibly helpful for when this dumbshit is over. Honestly, a fucking government shutdown…” Selina said as Gary busied himself around her.

Amy nodded distractedly, “you got it ma’am. I’ll see you in a few days.”

“That’s all that it better be.” Selina said as Amy finally prepared to leave.

She wasn’t sure what to feel other than relieved that she had a little bit of a break. It was the first time she’d had a break since she started to work for Selina. While she still had her weekends, the workload was slowly eating into her nights and at least one day on the weekend. So it would be nice to get a break, although she wasn’t sure if she’d know what to do with it. Maybe she could catch up on a season of her favorite show or do some reading…

She was going to go home, but decided to stop for a coffee before leaving Capital Hill.

She wasn’t surprised to see only a few people getting a coffee in the usually crowded café. Everyone must’ve headed straight to the bars when they were given furlough. Amy on the other hand was going to use this to her advantage.

Fuck catching up on shows and reading, she was going to do some work.

“Well if it isn’t Amy Brookheimer as I live and breathe.”

Amy looked up to see Jonah Ryan getting in line behind her.

“You’re looking particularly gor-geous, today.” Jonah said dragging out the word ‘gorgeous’ in a weird accent.

Amy scrunched up her face and glared at him, “not in the mood.”

“Are you furloughed? You know I heard you were working for Meyer. She fun to work with?” Jonah asked continuing on without Amy giving him any indication that she wanted to talk to him.

She tightened her hold on her phone and debated stepping out of line to head to her apartment, so she didn’t have to deal with people like Jonah Ryan.

She’d give up her coffee just so she could escape him.

He’d tried to look down her shirt a few too many times and it just…she didn’t like him. He gave her the creeps.

When she occasionally ran into him, she wanted to be at least a restraining order’s distance away.

“Fuck off, Jonah.” Amy said deciding to stand her ground.

If she was going to live and breath D.C., she needed to know how to fend off fuckers, like Jonah Ryan or journalists that just wanted to fuck the information out of her or guys like Dan Egan who just enjoyed getting into her pants because they could or wanted to move up the career ladder or whatever.

She was getting overwhelmed by all the people she had to avoid/keep her guard up around/ignore.

“You heard the lady, big-foot fucker, she’s not interested.” A voice said from her right side.

Amy turned slightly to find Dan smirking at her over the rim of his coffee cup. She scowled at him, even though he was helping her out. But he had coffee and even if she had nothing to do for the rest of the day, she was annoyed that he was enjoying a toasty macchiato while she had to stand in line with the fucking giant-headed reptile that was Jonah Ryan.

“No one was talking to you, Dan Egan.” Jonah said irritably.

But Amy did notice that he stopped talking and just took his phone out as he continued to stand in line.

Amy glanced over at Dan and noticed he hadn’t moved and was instead standing beside her and drinking his coffee.

“Is this the part where I say thank you?” she asked quietly.

“In polite societies it would be, but we’re in D.C.” he said smirking at her.

She rolled her eyes and moved up in line.

“I’m still expecting a thanks for the flowers too.”

“I never asked you to buy them.”

“But you liked them.”

“That’s not the point.”

She could feel Dan’s smugness radiating off of him as she finally reached the cashier. Quickly, she ordered her bone-dry latte and stood off to the side. She noticed that Dan followed her and they silently watched Jonah harass the barista with some over complicated order.

“I’m free Thursday.” Dan said when she scooped up her coffee and headed toward the doors to start her journey home.

“For what?”

“Dinner.”

“I don’t care.”

“You know if you keep turning me down, it’s going to make me look bad.”

Amy laughed slightly and glanced over at him, “I’m sure Nicola—“

“I knew you were jealous.”

“I don’t get jealous.”

“Should I be concerned that you’re a sociopath or a robot, then?”

“No! Because…because…you just seem like a typical D.C. douchebag that I happen to have made a mistake of sleeping with once when we bored at an event one night and now it’s like…you’re stalking me.”

“I’m not stalking you.”

“It sure seems like it.”

“We run in the same circles.”

“Convenient.”

“We work in the same building.”

“I thought you were in Ohio.”

“I’m interested in taking you out.”

Amy paused and turned fully to look at him. “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why do you want to take me out? What do I have to offer you?”

Dan shrugged, “your company? Why does anyone go out with someone? Because they’re interested. Do you not get enough fucking attention that going out with someone is that foreign to you? Are you like the fat girl at a middle school dance that no one wants to be around?”

Amy resisted screaming at him and instead settled on glaring passionately. “I don’t trust you.”

“Come on, Amy. Who needs trust? What’s the worst that could happen if we went out for one dinner? Hell, we’ll probably find that we just don’t have anything in common or we’re not compatible.”

“Dan, you’re dating another woman. I’m not going to be your side piece.”

He let out a loud laugh and then reached out to touch her arm lightly, “side piece?”

Amy rolled her eyes and took a sip from her coffee, “you know what I meant.”

An easy smile spread across Dan’s lips and his hand squeezed her arm gently.

“It’s just dinner and Nicola Mortlock has nothing on you. I’m only interested in you. I know I was an asshole the last time we…hung out, leaving like that and everything, but…just give me a chance, Ames.”

Amy hesitated because while his face was earnest and open, she continued to have a difficult time trusting him.

It bothered her that it still stung when she’d woken up that morning alone.

She hated that it bothered her, but holding on to that feeling of hurt was what was keeping her from making a second mistake.

“I’m not sure—“

“Take a chance, Amy. What’s the worst that could happen other than us eating together and maybe some dessert?” He said wiggling his eyebrows.

She bit her lip before she finally let out an answer. Even as she was relenting to him, she knew somehow that she’d regret it, but for whatever reason, in that moment, she didn’t care. Instead of replying, she grabbed his phone to type in her phone number.

“Fine. No fast food joints, no steakhouses, no Italian restaurants, and no bars with burgers. I’m going to eat a salad and you cannot make fun of that and maybe, maybe afterward I’ll let you…into my apartment. But don’t expect anything.”

“You sure do know how to seduce a man.” Dan said sarcastically when she handed his phone back to him.

“I’m free Thursday too.” She said shortly trying to ignore the jittery feeling in her stomach.

He grinned and she bite her lip again to resist returning the gleeful look.

“And remember, this is just a one-time thing. It’s just dinner. Nothing more and nothing less. I don’t generally date D.C. guys.” She said sternly.

He opened his mouth to respond, but she cast him one last meaningful look before walking away and getting in the cab that had conveniently pulled over during their conversation.

She heard Dan call something out to her, but she didn’t catch it as she closed the door and gave the cab driver her address.

She refused to let her mind think of Dan on her way back to her apartment and instead concentrated on the furlough and how was going to spend the amount of time she had off.

However, her body was reacting to Dan in a much different way and she was already trying to squash the nerves that were forming in her stomach. She wondered briefly why she’d agreed to a date when she’d been so adamantly against him and everything he stood for, but for some reason when he smirked at her and looked into her eyes, she couldn’t resist giving in to him.

Years later, she’d come to realize that would be her downfall.


	4. August

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amy and Dan's first date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading! We have one more chapter left and then Part 2 will be coming. I hope you guys enjoy the next chapter!

“You do realize how creepy you come off, right? I mean sending me flowers—“

“Women like flowers.”

Amy rolled her eyes and took a sip of her wine, “It doesn’t negate the fact that it was creepy.”

It was Dan’s turn to roll his eyes and sit back in his chair what she considered his customary smirk settling on his lips. “Women want to be wooed. And I wasn’t being creepy.”

“Not all women.”

They stared at each for a second and then the waitress came over to ask them their order. Once she’d left, Dan turned to Amy with a devilish smile on his face.

“What would you have preferred that I woo you with?” he asked.

Amy shrugged, “wooing women is an art—“

“I know that.”

“I’m sure, but it’s the subtly that matters.”

“What does that even mean?”

Amy pursed her lips and gave him an irritated look.

“How have you gotten this far with women?”

Dan snorted and took a sip of the scotch he was drinking. “Tell me honestly, do you like working for Meyer the Liar?” he asked changing the subject.

Amy opened her mouth and then closed it looking at him closely. “I don’t want to talk about work.”

“What else is there left to talk about, then? Our home lives and childhoods? Come on, Amy, I know you don’t care about that shit.”

Amy shrugged and felt a sinking sensation in her gut.

“Did you just ask me out because I’m in a higher position than you are?” Amy blurted out.

Dan rolled his eyes, “God, Amy, you’re so fucking paranoid. And you’re not in a higher position of power than I am. We’re equal.”

“Really? What are your duties then to Hayes?”

“Are you really trying to compete with me while we’re on a date?”

“Maybe…so what do you do? Woo her with flowers? Wait around for her to notice you like the diligent dog you are?”

Dan glared at her, “I’m a valuable member of Congresswoman Hayes’s team.”

“I know that! _Doing wha_ t _?_ ”

“Communications shit.”

“Didn’t you dump her daughter?”

“Keeping tabs on me, Amy? Now who’s being the creepy one.”

She crossed her arms and glowered at him.

“Why are you so tense all the time? It’s like every time I see you, you’re about to punch someone.” he asked.

“That’s not a first date question.”

“In the car, you were claiming this wasn’t a first date.”

“I should never have let you talk me into coming to get me.”

“I like the new place, by the way.”

There was a moment of silence and Amy stared Dan down as he contently took a sip from his drink.

“Answer the question, Dan.”

“Which one?”

“All of them.”

Dan gave her an irritated look, “I asked you out because I wanted to.”

“Why?”

He shrugged, “because.”

She made a gesture to go on.

“There was no reason _why_ , Amy. I just wanted to. Don’t you do shit because you wanted to? Why did you say yes?” 

Amy scowled, “Do you still consider this wooing?”

“Only with you, pumpkin.”

He gave her a shark-like smile as the waitress set some bread down in front of them.

“I thought I’d said no Italian restaurants.”

“Jesus fucking Christ, are you always like this? I feel like I’m being questioned by a fucking terrorist organization.”

“Maybe. I guess you’ll have to find out.” She gave him a brief smirk and Dan leaned forward with a look in his eye that Amy couldn’t distinguish.

“I guess I will.”

Amy bite her lip to keep from smiling, but ducked her head anyway just in case he saw her lips curve upward. She didn’t want him to know that her interest in him kept increasing. And if she was being honest, she kinda enjoyed arguing with him. 

Suddenly, they were interrupted by Senator Reeves who had been dining with his wife. He had recently worked with Selina on trying to pass a policy for eliminating plastics due to the damage to the ecosystem. They had conjured up some idea of creating recyclable utensils and were trying to raise awareness in Congress about it. But it wasn’t going too well as most things in D.C. tended to do.

Honestly, it had surprised Amy that Rapey-Reeves, as he was called in D.C., had said ‘yes’ to helping Selina, he was pretty right-wing, but the entire picture became clear to Amy when she realized how Selina was using him to get what she wanted.

He knew some notable people.

Selina needed notable people right now.

Rapey-Reeves liked women and Selina wanted to be a memorable Senator, which would make her a memorable President. Rapey-Reeves was just another step to climb to get her to where she needed to be.

However, that didn’t help Amy since the old Senator had been much too flirtatious with her and now here he was interrupting her non-date-but-sorta-a-date with his wife. Making her feel not for the first time very uncomfortable and way too small.

“Anna, right?” Reeves asked stopping at their table and taking a moment to look at Amy’s chest.

Amy looked over at Dan who was looking between them in unconcealed interested. She didn’t even think Dan realized Reeves was staring at her rack. And Amy felt a pang of…disappointment that Dan wasn’t even going to go to bat for her.

But then again, this was real life and Dan was just…

“Going to introduce me, _Anna_?” Dan asked giving Reeves a wide, charming smile, which to Amy looked more evil than inviting. She felt her stomach drop and a prickling sensation start behind her eyes. She pushed it down, not wanting to look into that.

“Senator Reeves, hi.” Amy said after making sure her voice would come out normally and then not bothering to correct him on her name because what was the point? Then she looked at his wife and greeted her as well. Against her better judgment, she introduced Dan.

“I am such a fan of your new policy, the one about—“ Dan began, but was interrupted by the waitress bringing their food.

For a few minutes, there was shuffled confusion and then before the conversation could move forward from small talk, the Senator and his wife were gone, leaving Dan looking irritated and Amy feeling a little uneasy.

She had figured Dan had decided on the new Italian restaurant near Capital Hill because it was convenient. Even though they were both furloughed at the moment, that didn’t mean either of them was actually staying out of the political world. But now that they’d run into a senator and there was a congresswoman sitting in the corner trying hard to not be recognized, she began to wonder if maybe Dan had taken her here for a reason.

They sat in silence for a few minutes until Amy asked how his salmon was.

He gave her a distracted, ‘fine, fine’ and then began texting furiously on his phone.

She sighed and vaguely wished that he wasn’t as predictable as he was acting. When he’d asked her out and she finally said ‘yes’, she had thought that maybe…maybe he was different.

Maybe she had assumed the worst because she was surrounded by people ready to rip her up for a crumb that would hoist them up.

Maybe something good would could come of it.

Maybe giving her flowers and pursuing her was Dan showing interest and not just him using her for his career, even though how he had ‘wooed’ her had been akin to a teenage after school special about warning signs of stalker tendencies to look out for in your significant other.

Maybe even though he’d acted like a shit when she first met him, there was actually more to him.

And Amy was surprised when that thought crossed her mind that she genuinely wanted to believe that. But in her heart, she knew that would never be the case. This man who had so much potential, who was on her level, was never really going to be what she wanted. And yet, that didn’t stop her from wanting to actually find out if that was truly the case.

The rest of the dinner went on much as the night had started. With them bickering at each other, and bringing up topics neither of them wanted to discuss. i.e Dan bringing up work and Amy bringing up personal questions.

Neither of them gave him to answer them.

And when they got back to her apartment, she didn’t invite him in because she was still feeling wary of how he’d acted when they ran into Senator Reeves. She tried to ignore the frustrated look on Dan’s face, but she couldn’t help but throw him a bone anyway.

The disgruntled look in his eyes was making her curious.

“I have some work I need to do for Selina.” She said to his unasked question.

“Aren’t you on furlough?”

“Yeah.”

“Then you can stay up past your bed time.” He said wiggling his eyebrows.

She rolled her eyes at him, “I don’t want to give you the wrong impression. I don’t sleep with a man on the first date.”

“Yeah, I figured you were that type.” He said letting his gaze move up and down her body.

She resisted slapping him or covering herself up with her arms.

“I’ll see you later.” She said dismissively.

“What? No good night kiss?” he asked affronted.

“Good night, Dan.” She said loudly and then reached into her purse to grab her keys to open up the building and make her way to her apartment door. She half expected Dan to move forward and press his lips to hers in some type of possessive manner, but when she looked up, she found him texting on his phone a smug look forming on his lips.

“We should do this again some time.” He said glancing up at her when she cleared her throat pointedly.

“Right.” She said not expecting to get a phone call from him at all.

It was not the best first date in the world.

She didn’t find them compatible at all.

Or maybe they were too compatible and it was just confusing her.

She still didn’t know anything about him, so she wasn’t sure if she could trust him at all. If anything, the night left her with more questions than how it started. She did know that he’d probably never call her again and that he was just saying what she wanted to hear, so they could continue having a working relationship without either of them feeling uncomfortable.

But then she reminded herself that Dan probably didn’t care about things like fucking someone over, look what he’d done when they first met? He didn’t seem like a long-term strategist.

“Seriously, Ames. I had fun. I’d like to go out again.” He said stepping forward to cup her face and move her head gently so she could look into his eyes.

His dark eyes glittered in the dusty light as the street lamp illuminated them. She found herself getting a little carried away as she looked at him. His eyes were trained on hers in an intense manner and his thumbs caressed her cheeks lightly. She could faintly feel the slight callouses on his hands, which made goosebumps sport out through her body.

Her mind flashed back to that single night in her apartment where those hands pressed into her leaving light marks that she looked at days later. It was impossible to deny how much they wanted each other that night.

She was glad it was dark, since for some reason she didn’t want him to know the effect this simple gesture was having on her. She opened her mouth to say something to break the uncomfortably, tense moment, but before she could, he took a step back and made his way down the stairs and back toward the street.

For a moment too long, she stood on the stoop wondering if he’d come back to kiss her good night.

When he didn’t, she spent the rest of the night berating herself for not making a move.

* * *

 

She didn’t hear from Dan for a week, but that was fine since her furlough was over and the government was back in session.

Frankly, she didn’t have enough time to even talk to him. She was way to busy focusing on things that she liked.

Obviously, she didn’t like him.

Whereas her work was a different story.

While Amy wasn’t campaign manager, just yet, she’d been doing her normal work as well as preparing to become campaign manager. She just had a good feeling and Selina kept hinting to it. She was prepared to be a campaign manager after all. And she’d been working so hard for it.

She was dedicated, loyal, organized, and ready to take on the world.

“Hey, Ame?” Selina asked looking up at Amy who was standing in front of her desk.

She had been reading over a policy for education that was rapidly gaining support. While Amy had found a lot of positives about it, there were still a lot of negatives and could do a lot of damage for those who needed student loans.

“Yes, ma’am.” Amy responded.

“What do you think of this education policy? Do you think it’s getting traction?” she asked waving over at someone over Amy’s shoulder who she assumed was Gary.

Amy cleared her throat, “I think that there are some positives—“

“Excellent. I—“

“And some negatives.”

Selina frowned and then sat back in her chair as Gary came over with a fresh cup of coffee.

“Hm…well I’ve been approached about supporting it.”

“Huh.” Amy responded.

“Yeah, yeah. Apparently, the Midwest states are huge supporters of this bill…who would’ve thought those corn-fuckers cared about education.” Selina mused taking a sip of her coffee.

Amy frowned as she let those words sink in, “what are you going to do?”

“Not fucking think about it for the rest of the night. We have a benefit to go to for…Gary? What’s the benefit for?”

“Rectal cancer.”

Selina did a double take, “Jesus, what the fuck? Are you serious? Who set that up?”

“We decided it would look good to mingle with the people. You know so we can gain some support before we decide to announce...” Mike said stepping into Selina’s office as he took a large bite of his donut.

Amy watched as crumbs became stuck in his moustache, “I thought we’d gone against that. All of the jokes after all…”

“A lot of big wigs were planning on going. You know possible donors...” Mike hinted trailing off with a shrug.

Selina rolled her eyes as Mike got some chocolate frosting in his moustache.

“Gary, do you have my extra—“

“It’s being steamed right now, ma’am, I’ll go grab it.”

“Perfect, now, Ame, is that…what you’re wearing?” Selina asked.

Amy nodded once and looked down at her floral top and gray A-line skirt. What was wrong with her outfit?

“Gar, do you think you can find Amy something far less…work-related?” Selina called out before he left.

Gary glanced back at Amy and then smiled, “yeah.”

Amy tugged uncomfortably at her skirt as Gary left. Selina gave her a tight smile and then waved them out of her office, so she could finish up her work. Mike went to go shove his face in the donut box that had been sitting there for two days and

Amy went to her own office to complete some menial work she had to finish for her official job, so she could work on unofficial stuff the next day. When Gary got back, she went to the bathroom to change and reapply her makeup.

He had brought back a tight navy blue dress that looked suspiciously like something Selina would wear or even had at one point. Amy tried not to think too hard about Gary picking out the right dress size and then how he had gotten her another pair of shoes to match the dress.

Once Selina was done getting ready, they made their way to the venue. Amy tried not to think too much about how awkward it was going to be once the speakers got up there to discuss rectal cancer. For a moment, she wished she had someone to make fun of this situation with. While Gary and Mike were nice, neither of them really understood some of the ridiculousness of the situations that they got into.

While Mike could be fun to work with and sometimes was good to bounce ideas off of, Amy wished she had someone who was her equal, who was on her wave length. Someone, she could look over at in amazement/amusement at the situation. Mike was generally too busy picking shit out of his teeth or smelling of bourbon because he was a drunk that thought no one knew and Gary was standing at attention for Selina’s every beck and call, but she didn’t mind working with either of them overall.

When they got to the event, Selina went to go talk to some Senators and Amy went to grab a drink with Mike.

They watched as Gary followed Selina around doing Gary-okee. It still amazed Amy that Gary remembered almost everyone they had met or needed to know. As Gary came to a stop in front of a Congresswoman who looked vaguely familiar, Amy noticed Dan lurking in the shadows talking to a tall, brunette woman.

Amy watched as Dan throw his head back and causally touch the woman’s arm, she realized he wasn’t just networking with this woman, he was flirting. Was he interested in her? Had he been seeing other women?

Of course, he had Amy thought negatively.

Just as the thought floated across her mind, she felt a hot, burning sensation in her stomach as jealousy settled there. Scowling at the fact that Dan was flirting with another woman when he hadn’t even bothered to call or text her—although, she hadn’t either—Amy felt spurned and angry at herself for even thinking he could be into her.

He was Dan Egan after all and he was pretty much the worst.

She should’ve known better.

He was a shit and that’s all he’d be.

Amy turned back around to face the front of the line before he noticed her staring. She came back to the conversation right as Mike was mumbling about trying not to drink tonight.

“Just don’t spend tomorrow morning hungover again.” Amy retorted when he asked her if he should get a drink.

“I just…I should really start going to AA again.” He muttered as Gary came over to them with a pinched look on his face, which meant that Selina was probably upset.

“Selina needs Prosecco.” Gary said subtly cutting them.

Amy rolled her eyes and watched as Mike played with his moustache.

While standing in line, a few other staffers came to join them and talk to help pass the time. Amy ended up getting into a conversation with one staffer who was feeling pro this current education policy and hoped that it would pass. It was only halfway through the conversation did Amy realize that Dan had noticed her, but was not going to come over to say hi.

She noticed because he was watching her while talking to another woman, this time with curly red hair. Amy couldn’t see her face from her angle, but she figured she was pretty. Amy pretended that she hadn’t caught him staring.

“Hey, Ame?” Mike said trying to get her attention.

Amy hadn’t even realized that she was glaring at Dan and the other woman until he smirked at her and Mike had called her name in a tone that sounded as if he’d been trying to get her attention for awhile. She took the glass and took a large gulp before moving across the room to find Selina deep in conversation with Senator Doyle. It was only after she was approached by another staffer asking if there was any availability in Meyer’s office did she notice that Dan was making his way toward the door.

She hesitated for a fraction of a second before making her way after him in a fashion that may have been described as in a hurry, but she was trying to ignore that detail as she caught up to him. She grabbed his arm roughly and then pushed him into the nearest empty room, which happened to be an empty ball room.

He stumbled slightly and then smirked in amusement at her.

“Couldn’t wait to get your hands on me, sweetie?” he asked.

She made a disgusted noise, “why haven’t you called me?”

“Wow, bossy. We go on one date and it’s like you already want to ball and chain me. I’ve been working.” She crossed her arms and tightened her grip on her drink.

She watched as he rolled his eyes, “were you going to call me?”

“I was busy.”

“So was I. This is D.C.” Amy was quiet for a moment.

She felt off balance by seeing him again after their date and the lack of a good night kiss. Maybe he had changed his mind about her. He probably had judging by seeing him with other women tonight.

“Were you going to even say hi?” she asked finally feeling like an upset five year old. She hoped he didn’t notice how frazzled she sounded and she tried to ignore how demanding she sounded.

Dan gave her a look that she’d come to know as his I-know-what-you’re-thinking face. She’d seen him use it many times and she’d always considered it one of her least favorite expressions and she had a lot for Dan.

“Maybe.”

She screwed up her nose in aggravation either at herself or Dan, she wasn’t sure.

“Listen, pumpkin, I’ve been busy working for Hayes. I have a lot going on right now. I figured you could understand that. Just like understanding that I was just working out there.” He said gesturing out the door.

“So working to you is flirting with women—to what? Get them to get you a job? Step up the proverbial career ladder. That’s fucking pathetic, Dan.”

“It’s nothing personal. It’s just politics.”

She nodded slowly trying to read his closed off expression.

“I know.” She said finally, but that didn’t help the annoyed feeling in her gut or get rid of the distrust that was settling beside it.

Dan took a step closer to her and then without warning pressed his lips to hers. It was a lot harder than their previous kisses, but it was over before she could respond and he was out the door as her breath was coming back to her lungs.

Thoughts of him lingered in her mind the rest of the day and she hated him for it, especially as the night wore down and she caught him subtly tucking what looked like a business card into his suit pocket.

She hoped he didn’t notice her staring.

* * *

 

A week later Dan called and she almost wished he hadn’t. She didn’t want to deal with his back-and-forth bullshit. She didn’t want to wonder if he was into her or if she had to be on the look out for him flirting and flattering other women. Most of all she didn’t under any circumstances want him to get close enough to her so he could kiss her again…

Her brain seemed to melt into a pile of mush when he leaned in close to her and covered her lips with his. It was like her brain just stopped and she just felt and that wasn’t good when she needed her mind to strategy and get her to where she needed to be.

Dan made her fall off her game and she couldn’t have that.

And yet, when he did call, she felt her heart beat race up and a dip of anxiety slip through her stomach. Her mind flashed to that kiss and then her bedroom on that night over a year ago. She was glad he hadn’t forgotten about her.

More than glad.

But she also knew that if he had, things would be easier.

So when he suggested that they get a drink after work, that night she was interested despite herself. It was a place that she’d heard of and was glad he picked because they had good cocktails from what she knew. He had suggested 8 o’clock and on the dot she was sliding into a stool at the bar.

She checked her phone to see if she’d missed any texts from him and when nothing stood out to her, she got a drink from the bar.

A few minutes later, Dan slid into the spot beside her.

“Hi.” He said grinning at her.

She smiled stiffly back.

“Rough day?” he asked seeing the dark cocktail she’d ordered.

“Isn’t every day in D.C.?” she muttered urging herself to relax.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not really.”

“I’m a good listener.”

She gave him an incredulous look. “I…it’s just Selina…nevermind. I shouldn’t talk about this.”

He stared at her for a moment and then turned to the bar to wave down the bartender. He orders a drink and buys her another one. She’s quiet as she watches him.

“You know it’s okay to talk about work. I’m not really sure what you think I’ll do with the whiny bullshit you want to spill.” He said once the bartender delivered their drinks.

She shrugged and tried to act casual as she said, “This is D.C., Dan. You can’t trust anyone.”

He smirks slightly, but doesn’t respond.

“So what do you think of this new education policy?” He asked casually.

She sighed heavily, “It’s…there are positives and negatives.”

“Our office is all over it.”

“Figures.”

“What do you mean?”

“Selina mentioned that the Midwest liked it.”

“We do. It’ll help a—“ “

No, it won’t.”

“Yes, it will.”

“No, it won’t.”

“Yes—Amy, the positives outweigh the negatives. It’s as close to universal education as the party can get without slapping a communist label on this fucker. Think about it. Now, is Selina interested in it?”

Amy took a long sip of her drink to buy some time and figure out what he was aiming for, “Maybe.”

“Maybe? What does that mean?”

“It means maybe.”

“She should support it you know. It would do a lot of good for her district, especially when the education aspect is so—“

“You know I’m surprised you’re even still working with Hayes after all that networking you did at the fundraiser.”

Dan laughed, “what a joke that fucking thing was. Rectal cancer. It’s a PR nightmare waiting to happen. I saw that article by the way after the event about Selina. Your guy Mike whatever should really stop things like that. You know, if I—”

Amy smiled despite herself, “’Is She Running For President? Stage Five Notice: Senator Meyer Sees Opportunity To Revive Donor Support At Fundraiser For Rectal Health.’ Insert joke here.”

They chuckled and their eyes met each other for a brief moment as they both collectively relaxed.

“You know, working together would be fun.” Dan observed suddenly.

“There are no vacancies in the Meyer office.” Amy said crisply.

“It doesn’t have to be with Meyer.”

Amy gave him a cynical look and felt her shoulders tense up as she sensed a change in the tide.

“We could learn a lot from each other.” He stated seriously.

His dark eyes were blazing into her blue ones and she resisted the urge to shift in her seat.

She wrinkled her nose and took a sip from her drink, “I don’t think so, Dan.”

“Why not?”

She opened her mouth to respond, but no words came out. While she couldn’t think of a reason not to work with him, she knew they were many. He’d get bored was the first that came to her mind.

Instead of answering, she changed the subject away from work and D.C. and instead, focused on other fundraiser events that were uncomfortable to go to: Child obesity, anything to do with obesity, childhood cancers, events for shitty parents who were pretending to get their shit together.

She wanted to steer the conversation from specifics and just keep it easy. Dan seemed to sense that and didn’t return to the conversation about working together.

Once Amy had reached her third drink, she leaned forward, and kissed him gently on his mouth because she’d wanted to for longer than she’d cared to admit.

Dan returned the kiss, but it felt a little hesitant.

When they pulled away, she must’ve had a questioning look in her eyes because he reached forward and far too gently for what she’d expect, caressed her face.

“I’ll take you home.”

She was tempted to wiggle her eyebrows at him suggestively, but then she realized that he was being serious and intended to _just take her home._

She felt a sinking sensation in her stomach and all of her doubts came back to her. As they got into the taxi, he reached over and placed a hand on her thigh where her dress her riden up. She turned to look at him and tried to ignore the fact that his eyes were directed on her. The look he gave her, the very intense one that made her feel like he could see through her, made her feel nervous.

And she didn’t like that.

“I really do think we’d do well working together.”

She snorted and laughed a little too drunkenly, “Dan, that’s not going to happen. We’ve already slept together. And I don’t mix business and pleasure.”

He smirked at her and chose not to respond.

Instead, he drew patterns on the inside of her thigh. When they got to her apartment, he told the taxi to wait, and then he walked her to the door. She kissed him again because she wanted to and all of the incessant what-ifs and maybe-she-shouldn’ts quieted for a split second as their lips touched. It was a proper good night kiss.

A good one that made her body radiate with energy.

She wondered if he felt the same.

She hoped he did.

She wanted him to feel different around her, like she did with him.

She wanted him to think she was special.

She figured that was the alcohol talking, but even days, months, and if she was being honest, years later she still felt that way.

When he came to work for Selina years later and she actually saw and heard about him dating other women, she’d realize that she wasn’t special. He didn't differentiate with women, she was not an exception and that was a disappointment that she lived with for several years until he proved her wrong.


	5. Labor Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amy and Dan's third date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading, favoriting, and commenting on this story! I really appreciate it and I very much apologize for not updating quicker! I was moving and then traveling for a bit plus I had some trouble with this chapter. I hope you guys enjoy the final chapter of Part One. Also, if you celebrate Thanksgiving, then have a great one! Look out for Part Two coming shortly!

Amy was tired.

And not just the kind of tired where a good nap would help her function better. Nor was it the kind that would go away after a few nights of getting the recommended hours of sleep.

Something she had not gotten in quite a few years.

No, it was a type of tired that she couldn’t shake.

Unfortunately, it was the kind of exhaustion that settled in her bones and fused her to the couch when she finally had a moment to sit down.

It was the kind that made her wonder if she was really meant to be in D.C. and if she was really meant to be working with Selina.

It was the type of tired that made her second guess herself and feel even more stressed out because she wasn’t getting everything done.

This exhaustion had been something that had steadily been creeping up on her for awhile. And she didn’t like it because it made her feel weak and incapable of doing what she needed to do to stay on top.

This week had been the cherry on top of the already melting sundae.

It had been a long five days that felt more like five years.

While every week in D.C. was long and draining, this one seemed to be even longer and more intense. Even though Amy was thankful for her job and she did enjoy it, there were some weeks that she just wanted to go outside and scream and scream and scream, but she had to keep it together because she was Amy Brookheimer and she didn’t get tired and she definitely didn’t lose her shit. She was posed, put together, and ready for any shitstorm that may come her way. And that’s exactly how she wanted people to see her.

However, that didn’t mean she couldn’t quietly and occasionally admit to herself that she was tired.

Exhausted was more like it.

Drained or worn out would also work.

She felt like a used towel that had been rung out too times and then shit on by a small toddler.

The weary feeling had sunk in even deeper after the week of fuckery she had endured thanks to her boss.

Not only was Selina having daily hissy-fits for the smallest things, all of which Amy was having to deal with, but this thing with Dan was stressing her out.

And stress was making her not think straight.

Instead of being fun, like she had intended, it was making her worry about things she’d never worried about before.

Not thinking straight in her job and in her life was not good. Her brain was her livelihood. She couldn’t afford to fuck up because she was focused on a guy.

She wasn’t that type of girl.

She’d _never_ been that type of girl and she wasn’t going to start now.

And due to the fact that she was so focused on Dan, she had messed up a few times this week such as not seeing the signs that Selina’s ex was obviously meddling in their campaign. Or the fact that he was a toxic parasite that sucked out all reason from the room when he stepped into it. Then there was the fuck-up thanks to Mike that she was still trying to block from her mind. While Mike was a good guy, she didn’t understand why Selina kept him around.

Due to her lack of focus, she hadn’t noticed any of this. This made her feel some concern. She was very type-A and messing up was not something she did.

She didn’t have time to feel out of sorts because of a man and she definitely didn’t have the emotional capacity to feel anything about the fact she felt so discombobulated. She needed to focus on Selina and Andrew and the campaign because if she focused on another else she would surely combust into a pile of stress and exhaustion.

It was a difficult circle to deal with—Andrew and Selina—and it was causing her mental state to suffer, especially after what occurred this past week. Selina had re-connected with Andrew and instead of making her nicer, it was making her crazier. Gary referred to Andrew as the Fluff-And-Fuck—Amy’s verbiage. Gary made it sound a little more romantic; the only way Gary could. But Amy saw it for the destructive monster that it was: Andrew could ruin Selina and watching that happen wasn’t something Amy wanted to happen.

While Mike had majorly fucked up this week when he started the rumor mill again about Selina running, they were as close as ever to finally announcing her run for president and the last thing that Amy wanted to deal with was Andrew and the shitstorm both Mike and Gary promised he would bring. They had a plan and while Mike had thrown a huge pile of toxic cowshit into said plan, Amy had worked overtime to fix it, so the campaign launch could be back on track.

She was having a hard enough time dealing with everything else, let alone Andrew’s bullshit. The last thing she wanted to deal with were her feelings on top of the D.C. drama she had to contend with. She blamed the current emotional upheaval on Dan and letting her eye drop from the main goal, which was to make Selina president, and because of him, her entire focus wasn’t on Selina.

However, it wasn’t entirely Dan’s fault of her current state of mind.         

After all, she had always known Andrew and Selina’s relationship was volatile— everyone did thanks to the media—but seeing it first hand…it just showed Amy that you could never give a person that much power over you.

If Amy learned anything from the past few weeks of having to deal with Andrew and Selina’s love-hate bullshit, it was that you couldn’t trust anyone with your heart because they could use that to their advantage.

And maybe that was putting a little extra stress on her with this whole Dan thing.

Unfortunately, even though Amy was very tired and fluctuating between conflicting emotions, she had plans with the one guy that was making her feel a little too crazy for comfort.

It was Labor Day weekend and Dan had asked her to dinner with dessert at his place.

Hopefully.

That was the impression she got at least when he’d asked her to go out with him.  He had used a few emojis in the question and she could see the adorable and yet infuriating smirk on his face as he texted out that question.

Maybe that was really all she needed to just let some of the tension go. Dinner and sex sounded like something that would help her clear her mind, feel less tense, and just let some of what was bothering her disappear.

But that didn’t stop her from feeling a little weird about going out with Dan. Sure, they’d gone out before, but there was just something about going to dinner and back to his place – presumably – that was just a little…disconcerting.

It felt too real and Amy didn’t really like that.

Before when they’d gone out, it seemed pretty casual. When they went back to her place to have sex over a year ago…it felt easygoing. Now, they had set plans for dinner and Amy felt…tense about it.

It could be the start of something...promising. Or it could turn into a situation where her heart could get broken. She really couldn’t explain it, but while she knew she was nervous, she also felt like this date was…was the beginning of something more.

And she didn’t have time for more.

Hell, she barely had time for what they were doing now. And the last thing she wanted to end up in was a relationship as toxic as Selina’s and Andrew’s. They were blinded by one another and that made mistakes occur.

And Amy was not the type for mistakes.

Especially with guys like Dan Egan.

Either way, she felt out of sorts. She wasn’t sure what to wear or what this was supposed to be. Should she get super dressed up and put on fancy lingerie or should she play it more cool? For some reason, going to dinner with Dan felt more formal, like something was supposed to be expected of her. She didn’t like it. It was too…planned…too conventional that it was making her deeply uncomfortable.

Combine that and feeling out of control when it came to her…warmer emotions to him, well she just felt a bit antsy.

She didn’t feel like herself.

Tense and stress she could handle about work, but when it came to her romantic life…she wasn’t sure how to deal with those emotions.

Which is generally why she didn’t.

But despite her feelings and reservations, she didn’t call the date off. She really wasn’t sure why when she felt so discombobulated about the relationship and so exhausted from the work week.

Instead, she went home and found a black dress that made her best features stand out. She put her hair in a chignon, which she never did because she hated how her ears stuck out. And she even smoothed on a touch of makeup, especially to accentuate her lips and her eyes for a more alluring look. The shoes she wore were a lot higher than she’d normally adorn, but there was something about lessening the height distance between her and Dan that allowed her to feel more grounded.

Ironically.

They had agreed for him to pick her up at her house, so when the doorbell rang at half past seven, she went to greet him feeling uncomfortably nervous. When she opened the door, she watched as his eyes drank her in and a wolfish grin spread across his lips.

It made her stomach burn.

“Are you ready?” he asked by way of greeting.

She nodded stiffly and grabbed the purse that was hanging on the hook near the door. It was still too warm for a jacket, so she forewent the light sweater she was going to wear with the dress.

Stepping out onto the threshold, she gripped her keys to keep her hands from shaking as she struggled to lock the door. She could feel Dan’s cool gaze upon her, which only made the struggle with the lock more difficult. She silently cursed herself for feeling so agitated around him.

“Need help?” he asked the smugness evident in his tone.

“No.” she snipped finally getting the key in the lock and hearing the satisfying click.

Dan said nothing behind her as she turned and began to walk toward the door to the outside of her apartment building.

“Where are we going?” she asked as they left the building and headed toward his car.

“It’s a surprise.”

“I don’t like surprises.”

Dan chuckled, “I would never have guessed.”

Amy rolled her eyes and easily slid into the vehicle when he unlocked it.

“So did you make anyone cry today?” Dan asked smirking at her as he started the car up.

Amy rolled her eyes figuring that that was his way of asking if she’d had a good day.

“No. But it was a productive day. For the most part.” She said thinking back to the amount of work she’d gotten done and then the one small incident with Gary when he’d come to vent about how Andrew was taking Selina’s eye off the ball. Per usual. The bagman had added, which made Amy think this was a pretty often occurrence when Andrew finally decided to come out into sunlight.

“You?” she asked.

He shrugged, “it’s been a bit of a crazy week.”

Amy smiled slightly feeling more like herself. She tried to shake off the excess energy she was experiencing and focus on the fact that this was Dan and they were just going to dinner. She decided to focus on the conversation to avoid feeling too wound up about the possible fucking in their near future.

 “There must be something in the air.” She noted.

He glanced over at her, “you too, then?”

She nodded, “yeah, this week…I’m just…” she trailed off not wanting the word ‘tired’ to fall from her lips. She didn’t want to seem weak. She didn’t want Dan to think less of her because she was feeling overworked by Selina. So instead of saying anything that made her sound less than capable, she chose to say nothing and allowed her voice to trail off.

He nodded either in agreement or understanding. Amy didn’t care what he thought, but she did hope that he didn’t see through her and just accepted her answer for what it was.

The two in the car fell into silence as Dan maneuvered the vehicle through the streets of D.C. each lost in their own thoughts.

It wasn’t until they arrived at the restaurant did they say another word to each other.

“So, I hope you like burgers.” Dan said as they swung into the restaurant parking lot.

Amy swallowed thickly because she loved burgers; however, she hadn’t eaten one in a long time.

“Yeah.” She said distantly already knowing she would order a salad.

Dan gave her a charming smile and then lead them to the restaurant doors.

As Dan gave her that smile that made her knees feel a little less than sturdy, she knew she was being ridiculous, this was just dinner and she was going to have a nice time with him.           

Even though she had her misgivings about him, she knew that she could count on Dan to match her in conversation and entertain her while her previous dalliances could not.

* * *

Once dinner was over and Amy had swirled around the remaining salad leaves on her plate, Dan had picked up the check and pointedly glanced at her.

She chose to ignore his pointed look of causality.

“You know, if you wanted something tastier, they have great burgers. I didn’t peg you for the type to eat so delicately.” He said leaning back in his chair.

Amy narrower her eyes at him, “You act as if you know me.”

“I think that I have a pretty good idea about your… _character_.” He said letting a smirk that she supposed was meant to be disarming settle on his lips.

She glanced away and then set the fork down on the plate, “I like salads.”

“Then it was good?”

Amy nodded and then took a sip of her water before excusing herself to the bathroom.   Dan watched her go before turning to check his phone. The waitress came back with the check and Dan double checked the numbers before signing the receipt. He then got lost in scrolling through his email while he waited for Amy.

After what seemed like much longer than he thought it would take, she came back to the table. She tried to ignore her questioning look as she picked up her purse and they headed back toward the small parking lot. They seemed to have decided to head back to his house, even though neither one of them had spoken the plan out loud.

“Did you enjoy your burger?” Amy asked breaking the silence.

Since they had left the restaurant, the nerves had found their way back. Their next destination was weighing heavily in her mind and she hoped that he wasn’t noticing her playing with the phone that had until recently been in her purse.

He glanced over at her and then nodded sharply, “yeah, it’s a good place. I figured you’d want something a little more low-key, especially after this past week.”

She glanced over at him and saw the knowing look that he was giving her.

“What?” she asked.

“What?” he said back raising her eyebrows.

“What?”

“What?”

 She rolled her eyes and tightening the grip on her phone. “Dan, just spit it out. What are you getting at?”

“I’m just saying that maybe it’s time you guys mix it up in Selina’s office.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’ve just heard some... _questionable_ things about the Meyer office as of late.”

Amy stared at him feeling off balance and wondering why he was bringing this up on the way back to his place. Maybe this was his idea of foreplay.

“Dan, stop with the games. I’m not in the mood to play who-is-more-manipulative-and-cunning?”

Dan smirked, but chose not to say anything and the rational part of Amy began to think that maybe he was pulling at straws to try to figure out what was going on in Senator Meyer’s office.

“I think you’re bluffing.” She said finally when they had gone through two traffic lights and he still hadn’t spoken a word.

He chuckled darkly, “I think you want to think that because you’re nervous. I heard about the fuck up of that fucking redheaded dinosaur. Why don’t you guys purge him? There are much better candidates out there.”

Amy was betting that when he said ‘much better candidates’ he was referring to himself.

Between Andrew and Selina as well as her own internal drama, Amy had completely pushed back Mike’s fuck up of the week to the dark recesses of her brain. She had enough to deal with, without Mike turning into a fucking idiot.

It had been on Wednesday when he had accidentally let slip in a very Mike-like fashion that Selina was considering running. While he hadn’t come out and said that was the plan, he still let the cat out of the bag way sooner then they had wanted it to be. They had planned for the campaign launch to officially begin in November, but since Mike had fallen off the wagon again, he had dropped a bomb that Amy had to quickly cover up.

Hence working overtime.

But she also did quietly pat herself on the back for covering it up so quickly when Dan and people like him couldn’t quite figure out what the truth was.

Amy opened her mouth to tell him off since he was so obviously digging for confirmation to know if the rumors were true, but she hesitated and instead went the blasé route.

“You shouldn’t believe everything you read.” She said finally smirking slightly when she saw the triumphant look on his face fade a bit.

As they pulled onto his street and the conversation about work dropped away, Amy started to feel even more uncomfortable. She wasn’t sure why, since they had already fucked a year earlier, but she was still a little unsure on whether they should go ahead and do this.            

Obviously, it was the third date and Dan…Dan probably had expectations. Like most of the past guys she dated, she knew that it was three dates and it was either move forward or just…let it fizzle out.

However, that didn’t lessen the knot that had been sitting in her stomach all night. She knew that because they had slept together previously she should feel calmer, but if anything, it made her more nervous, especially with how the last time had played out.

What if she woke up and he wasn’t there?

It was a silly thought because they were at his house, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t happen.

Another constant thought was whether his interest in her was genuine.

They talked about work a lot and he was always hinting at wanting to learn more, the car ride was a perfect example.

But if she was being honest, his genuine behavior had been a constant sore point for her since they began seeing each other again after his vanishing year.

She wasn’t sure if continuing this thing with Dan was really in her best interest, but every time she thought of breaking it off with him, she wanted to continue going to see what would happen.

While neither of them had spoken of their situation, Amy could see what was happening. Dan always had an agenda and was always playing the charming role and she…for some unknown reason liked him.

She wanted to get that across to him and since she wasn’t good at talking about her feelings, then maybe showing him how she felt would be much more beneficial. At least, that’s what made sense to her. However, that didn’t stop her from having reservations.

  “So…” Dan said glancing over at her after he had parked with a questioning look on his face.

“Do you want some coffee?” he asked giving her a disarming grin.

She tilted her head and gave him a look since they both knew she wasn’t coming in for coffee.

“Let’s just cut the bullshit. Do you want to fuck?” she asked passing subtlety and going straight for direct.

He stared at her for a long moment and she watched his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed.

“Amy…how about you just come in and we see what happens? No expectations, no strings.”

She nodded once and then got out of the car. He followed suit and then they headed up to his home.

Amy half expected him to launch himself at her when they got over the threshold, but instead, he turned on the lights and led her into his living room. There was a brown couch, coffee table, and a large television. An afghan laid on the back of the couch.

Amy frowned as she stared at the blanket. A brief thought of how many other women had curled up under that afghan in the same position she was in reminded her again that maybe sleeping with him would be the worse idea.

“Do you want something to drink?” Dan asked staring at her.

She nodded hoping that her hesitation wasn’t showing on her face, “do you have alcohol?”

He nodded and disappeared to where Amy assumed was the kitchen. She settled herself on the couch and grabbed the remote to watch C-Span because what else do you do when you’re awkwardly dancing around the idea of sex?

The news always calmed her down.

Maybe it was the idea that seeing problems that were worse than hers put her life into perspective.

Maybe she was just that fucked up from spending most of her life in D.C.

Whatever the case may be, when Dan came back with two glasses of wine and settled in beside her, she was happy she had picked something that was perfectly normal and they both coincidentally enjoyed.

She glanced over at him from over the top of the rim of the wine glass and blurted out, “you know…sometimes when we’re together, I feel like we have too much in common.”

“Is that a bad thing?” he asked laughing slightly.

She shrugged thinking about all of the issues that she had and was unwilling to deal with. If they were as similar as she thought, then it _was_ a bad thing.

At least, in her mind it was.

While she hid it well, she was pretty screwed up and she sincerely doubted that even Dan with his own issues—because she bet he had many—probably couldn’t handle.

When the commercials came on, Dan began to click through the channels and Amy settled further into the couch letting the warmth of the wine spread through her. She was staring at the television when she felt Dan reach across the couch to grab the afghan and put it around the both of them.

She glanced over at him and found him staring at her with a curious expression. An unknown feeling developed in her stomach and for a second it was like time had stopped. The expression on his face wasn’t charming or a smirk. His eyes were full of warm emotions that she didn’t care to name and the look on his features was relatively open.

He was so close to her, she could smell the wine and mints she assumed he’d eaten at some point in the night on his breath. He was slowly leaning forward and she desperately wished that his eyes would stop looking at her so intensely.

Amy had a secret love of rom-coms and if she was in a movie, this would’ve been the moment, but instead of moving closer to him to go in for a kiss, she turned away, and back to the news.

She bit her lip and pushed the afghan off of her legs despite the cold. She was suddenly feeling too warm and antsy again.

“Amy—“ Dan started.

“What do you think of Hughes? Do you think he’s going to get far in the primaries? I think that he has a lot of great qualities, but he can be so wishy-washy that it doesn’t make for a strong candidate. I mean who flip-flops that many times on abortion or gay marriage? Even though he’s left-wing, I think he’s pretty moderate and you can’t really trust what’s going to come out of his mouth, you know?” Amy began making sure to focus all of her attention on the television instead of on Dan.

There was a pause and when she looked back at Dan, he wasn’t looking at her, but at a guitar in the corner. She tightened her hold on her wine glass hoping for – what? She wasn’t really sure. But she knew that if Dan tried to kiss or touch her at this current moment, she’d either flip the table and storm out or give in to his too tempting ways. He just made her crazy like that.

“Hughes…yeah. He’s kinda a dipshit choice. His campaign manager is going to have a tough time with that.” Dan said off-handedly.

She glanced over at him again and was thankful to see that his eyes were back on her, but the intense and open look was gone and the smirk on his lips was there in all of its glory.

The moment had passed. 

* * *

Amy sleepily awoke to find herself in an odd bed. It took her a few minutes to figure out where she was.

And then it took her even longer to figure out why her clothes were on.

Then last night’s activities came back to her: watching C-Span, falling asleep on Dan’s shoulder, and then the very blurry memory of him carrying her to bed.

She cringed as she thought about how majorly she had fucked up. Not only had she fallen asleep at Dan’s, but she’d stayed the night…how was she going to face him now?

Sitting up in bed, she noticed that he wasn’t even in the bed beside her. A deep, odd sense settled itself in her chest.

_Of fucking course she’d been right._

Frowning, she stared at the side of his bed that she figured he slept on. Was he that pissed that she had slept over that he refused to sleep beside her? Had he slept on the couch? Was he annoyed that he hadn’t gotten laid last night? Was this the fizzling out portion of their relationship – if you could even call it that?

As she began to think about where Dan could’ve gone, she heard soft voices coming from the living room. Her frown deepened and she quickly got her things together to go investigate what was going on. An unfamiliar sinking sensation started in her stomach and moved south as she stepped into the hallway.

For some reason that she couldn’t describe, she knew that what she was going to find wasn’t at all going to be something she wanted to face.

With every step, that sinking sensation strengthened until she got to the mouth of the hallway to find Dan standing closely to a woman that Amy quickly recognized as Nicola Mortlock.

They hadn’t noticed her yet, so Amy was privy to a moment of invisibility.

“…I’m just saying that you should come back later and then we can grab breakfast, pumpkin.” Dan said placing his hand on Nicola’s face.

Amy snorted loudly startling both Nicola and Dan.

When the word ‘pumpkin’ left his mouth, she really didn’t give a fuck if they saw her. Without having realized it, Amy figured out why she’d been so hesitant the night before and why she’d been so uncomfortable. She had been waiting for a moment like this. Not exactly this moment, obviously she couldn’t have known that he’d be this cunning, manipulative, and slick, but she knew that something like this would happen.

After all, she’d known Dan was a shit, she was just waiting for him to prove it to her. And waking up to find another woman close to her potential boyfriend—a woman he had claimed not to be involved with anymore—was exactly the proof she needed to make up her mind about Dan.

Dan’s head snapped to look at her and the startled look on his face made the mistake she had made sink in all the deeper. He had spent so much time trying to get her to trust him and when she momentarily let her guard down, he took advantage of it.

He was a snake and the biggest piece of shit she had ever met. She’d known from the beginning that he was a mistake and she should’ve stayed away, but Amy was always the kind that needed to see it to really believe it and now that she had, she knew that she was 100 percent done with this…manipulative little fucker.

Why had she thought he could be…it? For a moment last night, that look in his eyes, the staring at the guitar…she had thought that maybe…maybe…but of course she had been wrong.

He was everything that she thought he was when they had first met and she had wasted so much time on…on—what? A guy who would just stroll through life thinking he could treat women as objects—as play things? No, thanks she had enough of that from every other man in her life she didn’t need to introduce another one to the game of Fuck-Amy-Over.

“I should’ve known.” Amy said glaring at him.

She stalked past them and grabbed her shoes that had been kicked into a dark corner of the apartment. Thankfully, her purse and cell phone had been in the bedroom—probably because Dan knew that Nicola was coming over in the morning.

She didn’t even bother putting her heels on before leaving the apartment. She was so caught up in her rage that she didn’t hear someone behind her. It wasn’t until she got to the front steps of the building did a hand reach out to grab her arm.

“Amy—stop!” Dan yelled twirling her around.

She snatched her arm out of his hand and wheeled on him ready for a fight.

“What. The. Fuck.” She snarled pushing him away from her.

He stumbled against the sudden move, but quickly righted himself.

“You weren’t supposed to know she was there. I thought she’d be late. But when she got there, you were still asleep and I didn’t want to…I didn’t want to wake you up. You had mentioned how tired—” He said quickly.

She let out a loud bark of laughter, “like that is supposed to make this better? We weren’t supposed to _know_ about each other? When I said that I was going to do this with you, you said it would just be the two of us. Now it’s the three of us and whomever the fuck else you have hiding under a bed or the closet.”

“Amy, come on, I never said I wasn’t dating Nicole Mortlock. I said that I was only interested in you.” He said grabbing for her again.

She moved out of his hands and glared so hard at him she was surprised he didn’t combust right in front of her. “Don’t fucking touch me, Daniel. Being only interested in me doesn’t mean anything. That’s just some fucking bullshit to help you sleep at night. I really highly doubt you’re interested in anyone except yourself.”

He froze with his arm outstretched and then slowly lowered it. “Amy—“

“Have you been dating her the whole time?” she asked loudly.

They were starting to get looks as the early morning weekenders began to walk the streets of D.C.

For the first time since she’d known him, Dan looked a little unsure. Gone was the bravado he put on display. Gone was the smirk and the smarmy charm. Now he was standing before her looking pale, tired, and a little uncomfortable.

“Amy—“

  
“Answer the—“

“Fine! Yes! I fucking have been dating her most of the last month. But Amy, you have to know that it’s nothing personal. It’s just work. I’ve liked you since the beginning, but my work comes first. I thought you’d get that. I needed her to get information on a policy—“

“A policy? That’s your excuse? It’s just work? Is that why you wouldn’t stop bothering me about Selina and everything else you wouldn’t fucking let die?”

“This is D.C. Amy, I thought you’d know better. You’ve thought the worst of me since the beginning, why stop now?” He said darkly after a lengthy pause.

Amy stared at him for a long moment not knowing what to say. She knew she should turn around and walk away, but she just had to know one thing.

“So this was all a political D.C. game to help you climb a fucking ladder, was that it?”

Dan didn’t answer.

And Amy took that as her cue to walk away.

She heard Dan call out to her, but without missing a beat, she gave Dan the finger and kept walking with her shoes in her hand and blinking away the tears that were threatening to pour down her cheeks.

Her mind drifted back to the reporter so long ago that she’d met in that bar and she wondered how she could’ve been so naïve.

And she vowed, in that moment, that if she were to ever run into Dan Egan again she would never let him best her. He was a shit and that is what he would always be.      

* * *

The next time she heard about Dan he was working for Senator Hallows. This was almost two years later. After all, she already had her fair share of run-ins and debacles with Dan over the almost two years after she had left him in front of his apartment.

They had been cordial and the meetings had been basic. She had not made an attempt to say anything more than she had to. If she had to introduce someone, then she would. If she needed to shake his hand, then she would. But besides being polite, she tried to stay as far away from him as possible.

A few weeks after she had left his house early in the morning, she ran into him and Mortlock at a fundraiser for kids with cancer. She tried to stay away, but he had sought her out.

“Amy, good to see you.” He said cornering her by the bar.

She looked around the room to find someone to escape to, but when she saw no one, she pulled her phone out and began to type furiously.

“You’re not even going to say ‘hello?’” he asked irritated that he was standing in front of her without getting any attention.

She glanced up at him and then across the room where Mortlock was staring at them.

“Nice to see you too. I think your date is pulling your leash.” Amy said when Mortlock was making a gesture for Dan to come over.

Dan smirked at Amy, “jealous, _pumpkin_?”

“Never.” She had bristled before spotting Mike across the room talking to a reporter from the New York Times. She slinked past Dan and made a beeline for the two of them to escape the unwanted encounter.  

She felt his eyes on her the rest of the night, but she chose to ignore him because she was tired of him and everything he represented. Once she got him out of her hair, then she could focus on the campaign and her job.

Unfortunately, luck had never been on her side and her plan to stay away from Dan had become just another idealistic notion that seemed to stay in the realm of fantasy and never actually become reality.           

Amy considered her luck to be some of the worst. While she didn’t believe in karma, she did think that sometimes there was someone out to get her because of something she did in a past life. With the kind of luck she had, she figured that she must have helped concoct some master genocide scheme because she could never really catch a break.    

After the debacle with plastics, Amy had to call him because it was her job to fix things and make sure that Selina was happy.

It had been a long time since she’d talked to Dan, but that didn’t mean it would be easy to do. The pure humiliation she felt standing on that sidewalk and arguing with him still haunted her. To the point where she refused to date D.C. guys—for real this time. She made a point to stay away from smirking careerist-shits that wore nice suits and tried to charm their way into her pants—or skirts.

Even though Dan had disappeared into her past, that didn’t mean it would be easy resurrecting one of her finest mistakes. Letting a guy get in between her work was something that would never happen again.

She had grown since she’d last seen Dan. She was fiercer, more strategic, and much more manipulative.

But that didn’t mean it was any easier to reach out to him to set up a meeting with Hallows.

Even though she had been the one to suggest it after the debacle at the plastics meeting.

She spent much longer than she should preparing herself to act completely cordial and nice to Dan. Her plan was to pretend that they never dated. It would be the easiest way to keep her eye on her goal and Dan out of her life.

As her finger hovered over the button to finish making the call, Amy reminded herself that she was in a good place career-wise and Dan was off with Hallows, so he definitely didn’t need a job.

This meant she was safe from his manipulations.

Taking one more deep breath, Amy pressed the button to put the call through and mentally prepared herself to put on a nice-friendly face to deal with Dan Egan.

The phone rang a few times before Dan’s voice echoed in her ears. Closing her eyes briefly, she bit the bullet and responded.

“Hey, Dan. It’s Amy Brookheimer.” She said smiling slightly at how blasé her voice sounded.

Maybe this would be easier than she had imagined. She only had to deal with him for a few minutes on the phone and then an hour or so in person, what was the worst that could happen?

 


End file.
